DIVERGENCE REVAMP: The Prologue
by Mr. Nobody or YARN
Summary: After dying in the final battle against Salem, Jaune is sent back to the past with one power to take with him that he had gained in previous life. Problem 1, he's five. Problem 2, he hasn't unlocked his aura. Problem 3, he has no idea what his semblance even is anymore. Oh well, if he's going to save everyone, it's probably for the best if he gets a head start on it...
1. Chapter 1

**I AM ALIVE!**

 **Here is the first chapter of the Revamp.**

 **I am posting it as it's own standalone and as the final Chapter for Divergence.**

 **Enjoy, respective credit to respective owners, etc.**

 **Reviews and opinions are mch appreciated.**

 **-YARN**

 **BTW thanks for the advice everyone, but my friend's ship sailed, and I'm over it. She was a great friend and that's how I will remember my time with her.**

* * *

Flames made of holy radiance.

Ice spikes that were filled silver luminesce.

Furrows of blood in the ground.

Bone spires climbing into the sky.

She flicked her wrist.

Jaune slammed into a cliff, Ruby a half-beat behind as she crashed next to him. Jaune scowled and swiped at the blood dribbling from his mouth. Ren swiped at her and she grabbed his wrist and casually threw him into the floor. Nora moved in behind, Magnahild moving to hit her in the head. Her free hand came up and caught the massive warhammer, stopping it dead.

With one hand.

Nora was stopped with a hand and was knocked off her feet with a bolt of dark light.

Salem sighed, "Honestly, I am beginning to grow weary of toying with you. Is this really all you can do?"

She looked up and moved back as Weiss' luminescent guardian slammed its massive broadsword where she had been standing. Salem lifted an eyebrow and snapped her fingers, pointing at the massive white knight. A bolt of dark power crackled and snapped out from her finger like a coiled snake striking.

The knight shattered into a million shards of aura and Weiss let out a ragged gasp as she fell to her knees.

"Pity." Salem murmured, "I may have actually felt that if it connected."

She flicked and bolt of darkness at Weiss only for it to strike a shadow clone as Blake grabbed the weakened Schnee and leapt out of the way. Yang erupted from where she had been planted in the ground earlier, her right mechanical arm sparking and smoking under the heat of her own aura. Salem gracefully twisted out the way before snapping a hand out, ripping out Yang's prostethic, and backhanding Yang away. Yang's back connected with a crystal with a loud crack and she slumped to the floor bonelessly, eyes hazy.

They had been at this for a long while, so granted they were more than a bit angry at their lack of any headway (Jaune forcibly shut out the fact that Nora and Yang were out cold and probably would be killed if they didn't keep Salem's attention). Jaune's holy weapons had done some damage but in the end, he simply was outclassed, she had been too strong and if anything they were in her domain. Jaune's grip on Crocea Mors tightened as he dashed forward. He closed his eyes and let his dark power free as it erupted in a torrent of malice. Black wings erupted from his back and bone plates slid to cover his body. He gripped Crocea Mors with both hands on the blade and began to crush it under his grip. It shattered into a wave of white fire and ice.

Ever since Cinder tainted him with some of Salem's very blood, he had been able to draw on the darkness the grimm came from. At first he couldn't stand it and he kept it locked down and keep it under his fragile control. Then after struggling with it, forcing it down and the constant push and pull, he realized it wasn't so much a new evil as simply all his dark thoughts, bringing them to the surface, and manifesting them as grimm. He accepted that it was a part of him and began to work with it rather than not use it. Everything was still a part of the greater whole. He just needed to unite it. It was practically the only reason he was still on his feet, he practically had three abilities, one of which was allowing him to draw power from his environment.

Two semblances and a grimm inside him.

But that meant he could play at drawing from this realm and his darker half drank greedily as it fed on the nature of the aura that saturated the air.

"Ah, this again? Very well..." Salem mused.

Jaune twisted out of the way of a shower of dark energy and responded with a barrage of holy ice. Salem made lifted a hand and a dome of dark power coalesced around her, blocking the icicles from even getting close. Jaune noticed a light glowing beneath him and saw a golden clock begin spinning it hands at a higher pace.

"Go Jaune!" Wiess hollered.

He shot forwards, shooting at Salem as a three foot bar of holy fire erupted into existence in one hand and a blade of holy ice coalesced in his other hand. Dark power gathered in Salem's hands as he slashed at her and she directed the slices away. She grimaced at slight hiss of her hands meeting the holy elements. Jaune began to throw a flurry of slashes and attacks at Salem, who conjured a serrated blade that looked like it had been crudely shaped from black stone. Jaune pressed forward and ducked under a slash only to roll sideways as her foot came down right where his head would have been.

Suddenly a bullet hit Salem in the side of her head and she hissed in pain. She glared to see Ruby gripping Crescent Rose and smoke hissing from the Sniper-scythe's barrel.

Jaune placed his swords in an sheathed positions at his waist, seizing on the moment of distraction.

"Try this!" He roared, slashing the two blades in a X.

Fire and Ice erupted in the shape of a dome and exploded outward in a rush of steam. Salem tumbled back and Jaune staggered away before collapsing to his knees. He coughed wetly and grimaced at the sight of red that had spattered the ground in front of him. He looked around, almost everyone had been knocked over, Ruby had managed to keep her footing by shielding herself with Crescent Rose, and Ren had laid down as the force passed over him. Jaune threw himself sideways as his instincts screamed at him to move.

He rolled out of the way of a beam of dark power that obliterated the spot where he had been standing.

Salem growled in anger as she stalked forward. Jaune noted with slight satisfaction that parts of her face were scorched and other parts of her were frozen or dusted with shimmering ice. Steam and smoke rose in wisps from her various burns and she glared at Jaune with a look that would have made lesser men soil themselves.

"Bastard." She hissed.

"I'll have you know I am completely legitimate, thank you." Jaune replied, gasping a laugh.

"You'll be the last to die!" She screamed, "I will kill all of you here! NOW!"

One chance, He had to make it count.

"Ruby. Tell everyone to go." He murmured.

Ruby blinked, "Jaune..."

"Please."

Her eyes widened, "No."

"Ruby ple-"

"No! You don't get to make that decision for us Jaune! Till the end, you swore! An Arc never breaks his word!" She yelled, "You expect us to run while you-"

He lowered his head, "Ren?"

Ruby turned, but Ren was already behind her and silenced her with a chop to the back of her neck, "Sorry Ruby."

Dark power gathered and began rolling in from the very ground where they were standing, all of it was flowing towards her. Jaune straightened and took a deep breath, calling on all of the power he had left. Fire and frost began to float out of his body and he began to breath fire as his Grimm's pressure increased. His blades melted into a glowing white sword he grasped with both hands. The ground began to crumble in a circle around him as his grimm began to break down the floor around him to draw in power.

It was more than enough to make Salem flinch.

His body trembled from the strain of simply keeping his power together and contained, he had only had a few instances where he could practice without his friends noticing and he wasn't even at 100%.

"Will we see you again?" Ren asked, his tone controlled but pained as he picked Ruby up.

"Get to the gateway, if this works, this portal should collapse as the dimension closes off." Jaune said, "Get them there safe."

"Jaune." Ren said in warning, shifting Ruby into a more secure position over his shoulder.

"No. Probably not." Jaune sighed.

"It's been an honor."

"It was always more than that for me. Tell them, okay? Make sure to collect Yang and Nora."

Ren took a deep breath, "They'll hate you for this."

Jaune closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, "They should."

Ren nodded, "Goodbye brother."

"Goodbye."

He turned his mind to the task at hand.

"You can't save them. Even if by some miracle you beat me, you'll be stuck here, you won't make it back to the portal in the state your in. No way back." Salem growled, voice dripping hate, "No way out."

Jaune shrugged, "It's a fitting end to the Arc's legacy. After all, the bloodline of them ends with me, you would know. You killed all of them but me. The weakest. The last."

Salem laughed, "Your mother, father, and sisters all fell by my hand."

"True, but you miscalculated, I discovered something about our family, why our family was always able to hang on by a thread." Jaune said, "Did you ever wonder why when it came down to it, when my ancestors were hanging by a thread, they somehow managed to live and carry on throughout countless battles and wars that massacred countless others heroes?"

She rolled her eyes, "Wrap it up, boy, I have to murder your friends."

He scowled and took a deep breath, "When the last Arc lives, we can call upon all of those who came before."

His power flourished anew, and he straightened as his family's aura provided the necessary strength.

"So now Salem," He smirked, "You get to face all of us, instead of just me."

He didn't intend to draw this out at all, he wanted it over. He knew that even with all of his power, a prolonged fight wouldn't matter here, she still had the advantage, and while they could both siphon the darkness in the environment, he wasn't trained with his grimm to be able to accomplish that at the rate she could. He knew she had expected him to make his moves on trying to draw this out, buy time for his friends. He didn't need to, she was overconfident and while he may have had more power right now than she would be able to take from the environment, she could easily outlast him.

So it would be an all or nothing strike.

Jaune began to walk forward as she did, they broke into a sprint and she vanished in a flash of dark light.

A simple feint, Jaune had no intention on letting it rattle him as his wings glowed with black light.

He felt the shift in the darkness behind him.

Jaune didn't hesitate and spun on his heel, skidding as he positioned the blade at his hip, his wing moving to cover him. She reappeared behind him, and he stabbed as her hand shot forward. Her hand impacted against his wings and tore through it.

That was fine though.

He expected that his wings weren't strong enough to completely block it.

But he didn't want a complete block.

He bit a snarl back and he flapped his wings out, throwing her arm to the side. He moved forward and she threw out her other hand. His blade struck her squarely in the heart as her hand pierced through his grimm armor like it was paper and straight into his chest.

He grit his teeth and managed one to say one thing, "Checkmate."

Light filled his vision as he let all of his contained power out in a roar.

* * *

Jaune didn't know how long he sat, staring at his corpse and hers.

His face was molded into an almost blank expression, lips slightly parted, hands stretched as though reached for a point behind Salem. His blue eyes - something vacant in the expressive eyes his mother once told him was the most beautiful things he had - were half closed, stuck gazing at a point above Salem's head.

Salem's mouth was slightly open, her eyes wide in shock and pain, almost as though she didn't know she could be killed or trapped. Her hand - painted red with blood - had been withdrawn a inch from Jaune's chest as she had desperately tried to escape his technique. Her eyes fixed on his face, but seemed to look past it as though it wasn't there.

The two figures were trapped in a massive crystalline structure, unbreakable.

Everlasting eternity.

He got up and stared at the pillar of light that stretched into the sky parting the darkness in the sky like a sword that stretched on forever. He sighed and closed his eyes as he waited for what he knew would be coming.

Eventually two arms circled his neck, and he smiled as he leaned into the familiar presence, "Pyrrha."

She smiled against his neck, warm tears pricking points of warmth on his neck, "Jaune. My stupid, brave Jaune."

He turned his head, almost pouting, "Geez, Pyr. You don't need to insult me, I have gotten smarter over the past few years."

She laughed, "Even so, you are the guy who missed my affections until I planted a kiss on your lips."

He made to respond, but sighed, "I really don't have a comeback for that. So..."

"So...?"

"I am headed for heaven?" He asked, "I really hope I am, because going through all this for hell? S'not fair."

She pulled him down and he sat with her, content.

"Did you want to keep living?" She asked, letting her head rest against his shoulder.

He shrugged, "I lost everything. There's no point. Even if I escaped from the ice prison it's not like there was anywhere to go. The portal that Raven had opened is shut. I cold walk for years and still find nothing but barren wastes."

They sat in silence for sometime.

"If you could change things, would you?" She murmured.

He pondered this.

"Yeah, I would have saved you. Tried harder, been better," He chuckled, "asked you to the dance for sure, tux and all."

She chuckled.

"Would have definitely reciprocated what you felt and tried to make the most of the chance we never got."

She smiled at that.

He continued, "I would have saved my family, protect Yang from losing her arm, I would have made everyone proud to have known me and met me. I would be the best of them, I would have protected the world using every ounce of power I could muster. I would destroy Salem and be able to return to Remanent. I would have made a family and live to a ripe old age."

Jaune smile faded as he realized all that hadn't been able to do.

"I would have done things right." He sighed softly.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha began, "What If I said I may be able to help you change things?"

Jaune froze, "Pyr. What do you mean?"

"You want to change things, don't you, save everyone?"

"More than anything."

"If you could go back, you -"

"Can I?"

"..." Pyrrha pursed her lips.

"Well..?"

"You could head for heaven."

"I don't deserve it." Sad certainty filled the words, "I killed those people in Mistral."

"Jaune..." A warning tone, "You were protecting friends."

"That's not an excuse, I could have incapacitated them, knocked them out, anything else. But I killed them. Heaven? No. Who I've become, what I am... People like me never deserve that."

"I am offering you a choice because you deserve it, but I want you to stay. If you don't... this all goes away. You won't be able to -"

"I assumed that."

"You'll give it all up? You'd give me up?"

"Never."

"Then why?! Haven't you suffered enough?! Why do you keep hurting yourself?" She growled.

He stepped over to her and pressed his forehead against hers, "Because you're worth it. You're worth everything I have and more. And if what you're telling me is true. If it is at all possible, I want to save everyone from all I can."

"...I lo-"

"Don't."

"But I -"

A sad smile, "I know, but I really don't want to start crying right now."

She half-laughed, half-sobbed.

He pulled her close.

Pyrrha rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, "I want to go back with you. I can't let you do this alone."

He cocked his head, "Are you even allowed to? I mean, for all I can assume, this is like some sort of pre-death instant dream or something, I might as well play along."

"Well there's a choice, but I won't tell you the other options, because I left you once, I won't let you do this without me." She said.

"Just tell me what it is."

"You can either go back with aura, grimm, and whatever other skills you may have acquired and or learned alone. But if I also go back, We both can only retain one power, we'll both be as strong as we were during that time, with only one ability."

Jaune hummed at this, "Alright I know what I am taking. No chance of talking you out of this? I don't want you to give up what you have for me."

She glared.

"Fine."

She nodded, "Together then?"

"Till the end."

Warmth suffused in his chest, spreading to his body and he felt as though the ground vanished beneath him as Pyrrha dissolved away from his arms.

He fell into darkness.

* * *

His eyes scrunched tight and he groaned.

He froze.

His voice was so... high.

His eyes snapped open and he looked around.

He was in his room.

Not his dorm in Beacon.

But his room in his house in Dorme.

He lifted a hand and stared at it.

It was small.

He was small.

He scrambled out of bed and looked in the mirror.

He blinked at his startled 5 year old face.

The ensuing scream of pure shock woke the entire house.


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing all characters, ideas, and etc. are credited to their respective owners.**

 **-YARN**

 **P.S. I figured why not, Omakes are fun for everyone, I may include omakes I like into pre-chapter bits as a sort of small treat.**

Adamant39 OMAKE INBOUND:

 _"Jaune? Jaune dear? Where are you going?" Pointedly ignoring his parents, the not-so-five-year-old Arc cursed his tiny legs as he waddled away from his family and the bowling alley and towards the white limousine parked before a packed cinema._

 _'Go back in time with your one true love' great deal, right?_

 _"Jaune, that's the cinema!"_

 _"I wanna see the premier!" He faked a young voice as he moved towards the limo, guards moving out and clearing a space between it and the cinema._

 _Apparently, God was an arsehole. And a shipper. And he didn't ship Arkos._

 _"Jaune, you know we can't afford those seats! And why are you annoying that security guard?"_

 _The burly figure that Jaune tried to squeeze past grabbed him and held him at head height. "Sorry sonny, this is the Schnee family limo, you can't just-"_

 _"HEY SNOW ANGEL!" Jaune yelled at the open door. "I GOT BETTER AT GUITAR LESSONS!"_

 _There was a pause, with his parents staring at his dangling feet, before a tiny figure in white was on the security guard's shoulder and glaring at him. "You. You remember?"_

 _Jaune nodded. Sighing, the five year old weiss schnee tapped the guard's shoulder, prompting him to drop Jaune, before jumping down herself. Jaune's mother (and the rest of the crowd around the cinema) watched in confusion._

 _"So..." Jaune awkwardly scuffed his feet. "I messed up."_

 _Weiss nodded. "Maybe you should be training instead of practicing guitar?"_

 _"Maybe you should be training instead of going to see the new X-ray and vav adaptation." Jaune countered._

 _"Maybe. But i can't exactly visit the gym inconspicuously... Would you like to see the premier?"_

 _"Sure, why not."_

* * *

 **STORY START**

* * *

"Jeez Jaune..." Jia grumbled, "Did you have to scream so loudly? I couldn't get anymore restful sleep for the entire night."

The rest of the family mumbled agreement, it wasn't like Jaune to scream and even then he usually slept like a dead man.

"Sorry." Jaune mumbled, swirling his cereal lackadaisically.

The family traded worried looks over their youngest's head. He woke the entire house with a scream so loud that his father didn't even bother trying the knob and kicked the door down, his aura whipping around him like a blazing beacon. He saw Jaune on the floor covering his face as he had apparently dove down to avoid the explosion and was shivering in the corner of the room. Jaune had passed it off as a nightmare, but his mother had only searched his face with a scarily sharp intuition before sighing and deciding she wouldn't push, Jaune looked genuinely exhausted and terrified.

Jaune seemed to break out of his reverie and began to scarf down his breakfast like a starved man before turning towards his father.

"Hey dad?" He asked, focused and sharp.

His father blinked at his son's abnormally serious tone, "Yes?"

"I want to be a hunter. Can you train me?" Jaune decide to get to the point rather than dither, the more time this was all out of the way, the better.

His family looked staggered by his declaration.

Jaune had always been gentle and kind. He never wanted to hurt anything and preferred to play with his friends rather than learn to fight. Granted, Jaune had loved hearing about his heroic ancestors, but neither his mother nor father had ever implied that he should want to be one. It was a painful and dangerous path and to be frank, being a hero never ended well in the Arc family. Every ancestor that tried always died, usually alone and always painfully. His father had retired from active duty when he had started a family, he couldn't bring himself to try to be a hero when he knew that if he died he'd leave his children and wife behind.

"Jaune... I don't think that's a very good... idea." His father said carefully.

Jaune's eyes seemed to be pleading with desperation, "Please dad. I know it's not easy and that I'll have to work really hard, but I really feel like I need to. Can you please consider it at least?"

His father frowned thoughtfully, when he wanted a son, he intended for him to become a hunter and become a great man. But when Jaune was born, he realized he didn't care about that, he wanted his son to be happy and live life to the fullest, doing whatever made him happy. Hunters had difficult lives and that was if they managed to live long enough, which was a miracle in and of itself, all things considered. If his son really wanted to be a huntsman, he didn't want to try to stop him and tell him he wouldn't make it. Jaune had the potential, every Arc did, and there was also the family secret of how they managed to survive...

John Arc inwardly sighed at that dark secret.

Even so, it would be hard to at least enroll him in a school that was close. Dorme was a village in the more rural areas - it was within the limits of Vale and there were hunters constantly patrolling the state walls - so it didn't have a standard academy to go to. He would have to enroll in a academy to be a legitimate student, and those were located only in the more populated urban areas.

His father exhaled, "Okay. Allow me to give this some thought, being a hunter isn't easy, and there aren't any academies that are particularly near. Can I answer you in a week son?"

Jaune sighed, but nodded, "Okay. Promise?"

His father ruffled his hair, "I promise junior."

"Dad!" Jaune whined, "Stopppppp!"

His father laughed and the rest of the table joined as Jaune pouted.

* * *

Jaune leaned against a tree in the shadowed areas of the forest around his house as he began shaking and panting. He took deep breaths and tried to calm down or least dull the pain in his chest as he fought for control. It had been hard enough to see his family again, acting like a normal 5 year old after the whole hunter plead had drained him emotionally. He hadn't let himself act like a child since Pyrrha had died in the CCT and that had been years ago. His heart hurt as he thought of Pyrrha, was she really back, was she going through the same things?

Was she thinking of him?

What if he was alone, crippled, with no power?

What if he failed?

"No." He growled to himself.

He drew a fortifying breath, even if she was back, it would be better to act under the assumption that she wasn't. If he doubted himself at all at this point in time, he would have already lost the war before he started.

If he really was alone, he would have to be enough to fight the oncoming storm.

He would save everyone.

He'd make it enough.

"Okay..." He exhaled gustily, "I need to go over what I have."

He tentatively tried to draw out his aura, but nothing responded. Not even a whisper of the ocean of power that had once been his to command. He tried over and over, but it felt as though he was trying to find something in the dark that he couldn't see and was constantly shifting places. He hadn't unlocked his aura and that meant his semblance was shot to hell as well. Jaune sighed, he needed to learn how to regain that, and he was sure his dad - if he chose to train him at all - would be making him do it the hard way. His father wouldn't unlock his aura for him, that'd be to easy.

Another unpleasant thought hit Jaune.

Hell, did he even have the same semblance anymore? He wasn't the same naive idiot who thought he could float through Beacon with no prior training! He hadn't even laid eyes Crocea Mors so he hadn't been able to try to draw out the heavenly elements from within it either! He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, he had nothing! Nothing but a knowledge of the coming storm and a future he had to stop!

How the hell could he do anything like this? He needed something to start with!

Jaune then remembered the one thing he chose to bring with him.

His grimm.

It was the only powerful ability that he hadn't gained naturally and despite the fact it was an embodiment of everything he swore to destroy, he would need every edge he could get.

And sometimes you need to fight fire with fire.

He took a deep breath, anchoring himself firmly to who he was and reached for his darker half.

He forgot something very critical.

He forgot he was 5 years old and his body was a child's weak and fragile body, also forgetting that he was trying this technically for the first time in this life so he had no idea he was inexperienced in drawing his power out.

So things went as well as could be expected.

The dark power responded like a tidal wave or tsunami of power crashing into his mind and sanity. Bone plates erupted from his skin like a raging fire consuming dry shrubbery. Jaune let out a pained roar as he was suddenly covered in his bone armor which shattered and dissipated into wisps of ethereal darkness over and over again. His eyes glowed red and he desperately bit back his screams as his dark power coursed through him like heated lava through his veins and skin. He tried to stop but it was though he destroyed a dam and he was trying to contain ensuing waterfall with a small plastic bucket. He fell to his knees as he burned and writhed against the overwhelming agony of his own power tearing at his body. Bones spikes began to erupt out of the ground at different angles, some stabbing into trees.

After and agonizing eternity it fizzled out and Jaune promptly passed out.

* * *

Jaune groaned, feeling like he had been used by Yang as a punching bag.

Several times over.

He pried open his eyes to squint at the sun before deeming 5 or so hours had passed. Since he left for this area immediately after breakfast, which was at 6:30am, it was probably 12:00pm at the latest. He weakly struggled to a sitting position, noting with an inward grimace that his neck had a twinge from collapsing in such an uncomfortable position.

He carefully cracked his neck before shook his head, "My body can barely handle any of that power at this age... I need to be careful or I might strain my body too far."

His older body was much stronger and well-suited to handle that dark energy and even when he started out with actually trying to use it, he collapsed every single time he was done. At this age his body had no way to handle all of his grimm's power at the moment. After healing his body with aura and his semblance, he had been able to make a decent amount of progress with his grimm. Unfortunately with no aura, he had no way to fix himself if he overdid it other than resting.

"Baby steps." He mumbled sarcastically, "Fantastic. I always have to do things the hard way."

He took a deep breath and went into a cross-legged seated position that Ren had once suggested to him a lifetime ago, and began to meditate. Pyrrha had instructed him when he was looking for his semblance that he needed to concentrate on him. One needed to unlock his/her aura - usually through meditation and exploration of the self- and after that was done, concentrate on who he was now. After that his semblance would appear in due time and he would be able to actually work with it.

But right now he needed to focus on the present, he would worry about what his semblance now was later.

Jaune began to discard the senses around him, beginning with sight by closing his eyes. The birds chirping, the leaves rustling and the quiet buzz of the forest faded away from his perceptions. The aching pain of his body was harder to ignore but he shoved it down and breathed in to center himself. The sweet aftertaste of his breakfast that lingered evaporated and the smell of the forest air swirled into the beat of his heart.

Jaune sat like that for a while, mediating and only focusing on the breath he drew and the beat of his heart.

Nothing else mattered, nothing else EXISTED for him as he simply looked within.

* * *

By the time Jaune staggered back to his house, he was bone tired. It was 4:00pm and he needed to rest. He felt... something while mediating, a sort of pull at his consciousness. As though something was instinctively trying to make him look just a bit deeper, focus with a bit more clarity. He was confident that he could discover his aura relatively quickly, but he would try to be careful. After mediating and deeming that enough, he practiced with his grimm.

He wasn't stupid enough to try taking it all at once again, and he tentatively reached for that wellspring of darkness within him. It was severely depleted and his grimm was hardly more than a weak whisper from before, but it responded. He drew the tiniest fraction he could from the grimm and gently focused it on his hand. Bone plate armor slid slowly out from his wrist and knuckles, spreading out to cover his hand. He pulled the power away and pushed it back out, focusing on different areas. It wasn't anywhere near as developed as before, but he had much more time to perfect it, so he didn't worry. He made his way inside and despite his stomach rumbling like a snarling beowolf, he made it to the sofa and collapsed into it.

He was out before his head came to rest on the pillow.

* * *

Jaune awoke to the sound of a snapping camera. He blinked uncertainly at the back of a scroll before realizing it was his mother.

"Mom?" He mumbled, not quite aware yet.

"You look so cute!" She almost squealed.

Jaune groaned and buried his face into the armrest, face burning. His mother had a habit of taking photos of the family in what she deemed as adorable positions. Each of his sisters had their embarrassing shots taken and while multiple times there had been hunts to find and destroy the photos, their mother cheerfully informed them that if they even deleted one, they ALL would sleep outside for a month. That however wasn't enough to quell the unamused shouting/yelling/growling/temper-tantrumming of whoever's photo had been recently snapped.

Jaune's stomach decided at that moment to make itself heard.

Rather loudly.

And painfully.

Jaune's hand went to his stomach and he smiled sheepishly, "Um... Could I get some food? Please?"

* * *

After scarfing down a big (for his size) meal, Jaune sighed contentedly, "I always forget how awesome your food is!"

Jaune had been living more and more on lukewarm rations as they had closed in on Cinder and Salem. At the time Jaune craved Beacon's meals, they had at least been half-decent, but eating his mother's cooking was always comparable to ambrosia from the gods. He learned all his cooking from her and he had always gotten glowing performance reviews from his friends (with that one time Ruby and Yang clung to him begging him to be their personal chef). However, eating it also hurt. He hadn't been able to save his family before Salem and Cinder had killed them. He had very nearly gone crazy when he saw his demolished house and the corpses of his family. Each bite brought with it the feeling of failing to be with his family when they needed him most.

He smothered a scowl at his nose-dive into a depressing pit of memories.

A hand patted his head, "Jaune, are you alright? You seem... different today."

Jaune squashed the panic welling up in his chest, of course he couldn't totally fool his mom, yet there was the fact that he was in his formative years.

"I guess..." He said, gently rubbing the area where Salem had impaled him, "I guess I just want to be a hero and heroes have to get strong, right? So I need to be smart and strong as soon as I can!"

His mother gave him a complicated look, but sighed, "Well all heroes need to listen to their parents too. I want you to come to me if you ever need help Jaune, you're my son, and I love you. I will always be there for you."

Jaune smiled, "I know."

* * *

Thank Monty for Summer vacation, it gave him at least a month or two before attending school and having to go through that hell all over again. He shuddered at the thought of young screaming and ridiculous children.

He hoped he could bring himself up to par with his old self after about a month of Pyrrha's training.

Jaune hadn't been idle over his dad's week of deliberation. He would go to the clearing, train his grimm, meditate on his aura, train his grimm again, stumble back to his house for a bite to eat and sleep, and do it all over again.

His grimm had been a bit difficult to work with but he now had a firm knowledge that he was in charge, he wouldn't let his darker emotions control him. Sure, he'd feel them; sure, he'd use his grimm when he needed to, but he would never let the grimm take charge. He was the master and it was simply a part of the greater whole.

But aura?

He wanted to tear his hair out.

The only thing that was pissing him off was his aura - his grimm wasn't nearly as problematic, and it was the antithesis of control and his soul - simply refused to be found and he need it as soon as possible! It was quite possibly the only thing he needed right now! He flexed his bone covered hand and grumbled at nothing in general.

"If only I could get my dad to unlock my aura..." Jaune growled.

To be honest if baffled him just how difficult it was for him to grasp that power he had was. He almost had it and just before he could reach it, it would vanish like mist under the sun. He was patient, but he NEEDED to unlock his aura for his dad to train him seriously. Desperate, he had asked his dad what the glowy thing was from the time his father burst into his room. His dad explained the basics of what it was, but his dad had been vague (on purpose) in regards to Jaune unlocking it. If he didn't have his aura at least unlocked, his dad would run him into the ground day after day trying to draw it out by force.

Jaune really didn't want that to happen.

Another hour of fruitlessly meditating and his frustration spiked, "GODDAMMIT!"

He punched the ground and bones automatically slid out of his hand as his grimm tried to prevent his body from harm. They shattered under the third blow against the unforgiving ground, and he curled up on the ground, screaming anger into his arm so it didn't sound like he was being murdered.

After he let it all out he rolled onto his back and stared at light glimmering through gaps in the foliage, "Why is this so hard?"

"Maybe because you're not supposed to find it like everyone else." A voice said.

He rolled over into a crouch and got ready to run, he had no delusions as to how any fight would go at this age.

It was his mother.

Oh Monty in heaven what if she saw his Grimm? He prayed she didn't see anything beyond his aura mediation as he took on an embarrassed expression.

His mother gave him an unimpressed look, "Jaune, you cannot honestly believe that I wouldn't have noticed you going out and staying out for almost all day, did you?"

Jaune flushed - to be honest - he had, "Well... maybe?"

She rolled her eyes and walked over to him, "Having trouble with your aura?"

Jaune racked his brain for something to respond that wouldn't give away how much he knew, "That what dad's glowy thing was? He called it aura!"

His mother laughed, "Yes, darling."

"Oh!" He smashed his fist into his palm, "Well yeah! I saw dad do it and asked him how to do it! He said I'd figure it out, so I tried thinking really hard!"

She cupped his cheek, "Don't worry Jaune, it's a problem all the Arcs have. You're father had so much trouble with his aura you wouldn't believe it. An Arc can't unlock their aura by conventional means, they either must be in trouble or have someone unlock it for them. He figured that out after an unsavory run in with a Ursa."

Jaune blinked at her, "What's an Ursa? ...Actually, I don't care, how do I unlock the aura thing?"

She sighed at his lack of caring what an Ursa was but smiled nonetheless, "You politely ask your mother to do it for you."

Jaune grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Special thanks to Ghost Fire for collabing on Jaune's semblance!**

 **All property goes to rightful owners, yada yada yada.**

 **Enjoy**

 **-YARN**

* * *

Jaune landed face first into the dirt and flopped onto his stomach.

His father rested the weighted wooden blade he was using on his shoulder, "I suppose that's it."

It had been a month since his mother had unlocked his aura and Jaune was plunged into hell.

Well it was a necessary evil, so it could be explained.

His father brook no argument when they trained, and while he was fine showing Jaune moves over and over, he would settle for nothing less than perfection when they were executed. Sparring was a special kind of torture all of it's own. Jaune was tiny and while it was never too early to build the necessary muscle needed for fighting, Jaune wasn't going to be strong enough to beat his father at this age, even if had years in that body. Regardless, if there was one thing Jaune inherited from his father other than a monstrous amount of aura, it was that he wouldn't stay down, no matter how many times he was knocked into the dirt or sent flying. The only sign his father was pleased was a proud glint when Jaune forced himself back to his feet, often using his wooden sword as a crutch.

"Not... yet..." Jaune panted as he struggled to his feet and staggered drunkenly two steps to the left, "I won't give up just yet!"

His father lowered his sword to be held loosely at his side and tilted his head, "I see. Make your next attack your absolute best!"

Jaune nodded as he charged, blade raised.

He didn't bother with a frontal charge, his father would have sent Jaune tumbling head over heels into the base of a tree if he tried. John Arc wasn't a licensed hunter because of - as he stated - 'his irresistible charms and good looks' (they both studiously ignored Jaune's mother laughing uproariously in the background), he had bled, sweat, and fought for his strength. Jaune rolled to the side and began to zigzag around his father, throwing in as many unpredictable steps as he could as he circled his father. John's eyes followed his every move, and Jaune grit his teeth, trying to force his battered body to move faster.

'I just don't have the ability to outmaneuver him!' He spat acidly in his mind, 'My body is just too tiny and my strides are simply to small! I don't even have to discuss strength... What can I use against him?'

John took a step and was already moving his blade with a uppercut slash. Jaune eyes widened and leaned as far back as he could, the wooden blade ruffling the front of his shirt and grazing his cheek. Jaune leapt back to gain some distance and held his blade in a defensive position that was diagonally across his body. His father began to advance and Jaune quickly backed up, trying to find a way to at least land a blow against his father.

He panted and winced as his previous bruises and bumps ached, his father told him he wasn't allowed to use his aura to heal himself until the day's training was done. Jaune knew he'd have to fight in conditions that would be favorable to conditions that were downright torture to simply breathe (he was sure that in a bad situation, he would be extremely lucky if he was in this shape). It also forced him to get a firm handle on allowing his aura to move. A hunter knew that while one's aura healed naturally all injuries, it was important to learn how to prioritize, if he was bleeding from a gash in his chest, he needed it mended before healing something as minor as a small bruise on his arm. One's aura though, would try to mend all wounds at once, dispersing the healing and slowing it down. If he could hold it from healing at all, he would be able to focus it on something else if needed.

Jaune formulated a plan and took a deep breath as he slowed his retreat, allowing his father to close in on him.

His father began to attack and Jaune found himself caught up in a whirlwind of strikes. His father was holding back almost all of his true skill and strength, and the thought made Jaune want to scream in anger at his childish body. It also didn't help that his father probably knew how to fight a smaller opponent as he had a rather large frame in comparison to most. Jaune's body when he was older (and a decent amount of training done) was toned and muscular but overall less bulky than his father's, leaning more toward's his mother's lithe build with a hint of his father athletic build. He blocked a slash at his head and jumped forward over a blow at his legs. Jaune grit his teeth as he tucked his body in midair to half-roll in the air and planted his legs firmly on his father's chest, using it as a springboard to launch himself away.

Only to be swatted out of the air by a casual sideswipe and forcibly reacquainted with the ground.

Jaune grit his teeth and struggled to rise before collapsing fully on his front and gasping out coughs.

Okay, NOW he was done.

His father smiled, "Congrats Jaune, you landed your first hit on me, if you were bigger, you would have pushed me off balance."

Jaune mumbled, "If you were... serious about that beatdown... I might... be inclined to believe you..."

His father sighed and shook his head, "Don't be so hard on yourself son. For a month and a half of training, you are doing exceptionally well. You have to understand you are five, you're body has limits due to it's size that you simply can't help. Now, use your aura to heal."

Jaune closed his eyes and began to let a trickle of his aura out to his various bruises. It was another part of his training to let only a small bit of aura out to heal, it would allow for 'flexing his aura' - as his father called it - and strengthening the healing factor that it provided and improving its potency. Jaune got up and noticed for just a moment, that there were white, black, and grey filigree marks spreading over his hands.

"Dad?" He murmured.

"Yes?" His father replied, placing the practice blade on the racks inside their shed.

"I think my semblance is beginning to form." Jaune said.

His father blinked and quickly made his way to Jaune's side, examining the marks on Jaune's hands.

'It doesn't feel like my old shielding semblance... It gives off a more... offensive feel...' Jaune thought trying to will that feeling back to his body.

He held out his hand in front of him focused his aura on his arm.

His fingers became became sharp and gleamed a shining silver flecked with black and white markings as they slowly thinned into the filigree markings and finally faded halfway up his bicep. His arm looked more angular, as though someone had run a sander of his arm and gotten rid of the smoother curves of his flesh. Jaune flexed his hand and the finger responded, his hand felt rather normal other than the coloration. The claws made a scraping sound as they came into contact with his palm - as though he were dragging a blade across metal - as he made a tight fist.

"What does it do?" Jaune wondered, his arm still - for all intents and purposes - felt like flesh to him.

"Jaune?" His father murmured.

"Block." John Arc commanded.

Jaune turned to see his father's fist swinging towards with what looked to be enough force to break a fair number of his ribs. Jaune lifted his arms in a cross-armed block and yelped as the blow hit him, sending him flying back and knocking the air from his lungs. He tumbled through the dirt before shoving his hand into the ground digging five long furrows into the dirt to slow himself down. It felt as though he had been hit by an incredibly fast-moving shove, it kinda surprised him, but didn't hurt.

Aside from forcibly knocking the air right out of him.

His father smiled, "I see."

Jaune scowled indignantly as he panted, "What the heck dad? That could have killed me!"

John Arc chuckled and lifted the knuckles of his hand to show blood trickling from where they had made contact, "A armor-like semblance with clawed hands, interesting."

What Jaune saw was that it wasn't as though his father had punched a wall, but as if something had sliced him right across his knuckles...

Jaune blinked and stared at his arm, 'Similar... but it's not the same...'

Jaune closed his eyes and slowly let the aura drain out of his arm. He'd have to practice with that later, there was something missing from his dad's explanation. Not to mention he would have to add his semblance to his grimm and see if they could be a good match in combat, if they were simply too opposed he would have to focus on a specific styles for them separately before trying to unify them. On the bright side, this meant he was a step closer to regaining his umbrakinesis semblance, and he needed all the power he could get as soon as possible.

His dad's aura flashed and John flexed the now healed knuckles on his hand, "Well son, how about we head in? I'm starving."

"Did you really punch have to me? We could have waited till tomorrow, I would have been prepared to draw it out and see what it could to." Jaune grumbled as he walked next to his father.

A hand came down on his head, ruffling his hair, "Cheer up, junior! There's no time like the present, and your grandad used a sword when testing my semblance, you should be grateful!"

Jaune scowled as he leaned away and stared at his dad, "Are we Arc men all just hard-wired to take the most violent option?"

John paused at that, "A very good question son. However, I am not answering that."

Jaune made a face in general, he hated it when his father was vague like that.

* * *

And so it continued, Jaune was pounded into the dirt over and over again, and over the course of summer break, Jaune slowly improved. His reflexes grew and his speed increased as well, his body developed much more smoothly, muscles already beginning to form under the soft, baby fat that plagued his body.

Then came school.

* * *

Jaune kicked a rock down the road, caught up to it and kicked it again.

He repeated it until he made it to the school building.

Frankly speaking, Dorme had a decent education until the end of high school. If you were simply a normal kid who wanted to get a civilian job, you'd be set for an entry into a college and so forth.

For those who wanted to be hunters, that was more complicated.

Immediately after elementary school, which was the eight grade, you would have to get out of Dorme as it didn't even have a hunter prep school. Most hunters from Dorme (if any) would have to go through a examination at a hunter prep academy, they would be evaluated to see what skills they had and if they had any potential at all. If not, they were rejected, if they did, they were accepted, simple as that. Because of that, many hunters that came from rural areas of Vale had to rely on self-study and/or a nearby hunter mentoring them if there was a hunter on hand for them to study under.

Jaune sighed and ascended the wooden steps to the school, absently wishing that he didn't have to attend. He knew all the material, and going through it all would just be a chore.

Elementary level mathematics were things he could solve in his sleep, to be honest, he'd much rather fight hordes of grimm if he were honest. He wasn't a child and acting like a child wasn't going to work, Ren had always noted he was a terrible liar. Oh well, he supposed it was just something it would be added to the list of things he need to work on. Jaune scrubbed a frustrated hand through his hair. He guess he would just stay quiet. He almost wished that he was older and had passed to at least the eight grade, thirteen was at least a benchmark where he could actually begin really working out. Jaune quickly made his way to the office, old memories stirring within his head as he looked around.

It was the same, but seeing it with all new experiences made it...

Bland.

Almost... boring.

He shook the thought away and continued moving.

* * *

Jaune was at least right.

IT WAS HELL.

The subject matter was worse than listening to Port drone on and on. At least if you managed to listen it was a mildly amusing story of self-bravado which managed to reveal weak-points of the grimm by mention specific points to aim for. But he was listening to simplistic equations and fractions, reading phrases that he honestly couldn't care less about, and generally wishing he could somehow kickstart time to speed up several years. He fought drooping eyelids every time the teacher turned to write on the blackboard. Objectively speaking, he knew that children actually required more sleep than adults, but this was just obscene.

Recess was almost a reprieve from Monty himself.

He settled himself in a shady corner and sighed in mental exhaustion as he leaned against the walls of the building. It wasn't that he disliked learning, but this wasn't exactly what he meant, he could add, subtract, multiply, and divide very well by now, thank you very much.

He glanced the children running about and felt an unwelcome wave of pity tinged with envy. They knew nothing of the hell to come. How could they? The sky was clear and bliss blue, as though nothing could go wrong. How could he have known? How could any of them? They indulged in childish bliss and innocence, knowing of nothing but the purity of their lives.

He was forcibly ripped out of his reverie by a bright voice exclaiming, "Hi!"

He DID NOT jolt sideways let out a yelp.

He looked to his left to see a girl his age with shoulder-length ebony hair, pale skin, forest-green eyes, and yellow sundress. She was smiling brightly and Jaune was instantly reminded of Ruby by the eager innocence of her eyes.

Her name was Elaine, his old friend.

He smiled, "Hi."

She pointed to a group of kids looking over and said, "We have an uneven number of people, and we need another person. You want to play with us?"

Jaune blinked, an old feeling of embarrassed delight welling up in his chest.

"Okay."

* * *

A simple game of soccer was... not entirely pointless.

Jaune decided that if he was going to play, he might as well treat it as an opportunity to improve some skills. He kicked the ball around, trying to treat it as a strategic exercise. He instantly began to categorize who was the best at what and what each person skill was. He knew who of the kids had the had the best aim, strongest leg strength, and speed. He passed the ball between, smoothly acting as ball carrier as he moved around other kids.

His team won and childish delight flooded his chest.

He almost forgot what this felt like.

* * *

He had settled down for his lunch when a group of older kids came up to him.

"Hey kid." One sneered.

He sighed inwardly, ah yes, the most stereotypical part of any institute of social interaction based ANYTHING.

Bullies.

"Nice lunch you got there." One said.

He looked at the lunch in his hand.

It was a sandwich (granted his mother made it, so he was sure it was angelic in taste, but all the same, it was a sandwich), and a bottle which was filled with what was lemonade (freshly squeezed, his mother never did anything less).

"You mean my sandwich?" He said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yep." One said, talking a step closer, "Mind being a good little kid and handing it over?"

He smiled in a way that wasn't friendly, "Polite way of asking, but I think I'd like to eat it. See I'm growing after all, need my nutrition."

He punctuated that with a bite of his sandwich.

Damn, he loved his mother's cooking.

"Your what?" One kid said face scrunched in confusion.

"Nu-tri-tion." Jaune said slowly, sounding out the word, "Basically it's means the food you eat, nutrition is food and gives you sustenance."

"What?"

Jaune grinned around another bite of his sandwich.

This could be very fun.

* * *

By the time lunch had ended, he had finished his sandwich and explaining the large words he had been using; so with a cordial nod at his would-be bullies, Jaune scurried off to his classroom.

He was NOT doing his best to avoid laughing in their face that they had been suckered so thoroughly.

Well... maybe a bit.

Or alot.

He didn't need to infuriate them, he could have just said who is older sisters were and subsequently frighten them off, but he was better than that, more responsible. This time, he would learn to take care of himself and fight his own battles as well as protect those who couldn't. He knew that he could count on his family, but it was time that they counted on him too. He would be someone who his father would be proud to call his son, and someone who everyone would be proud to have known at all.

Someone strong enough to defend the world.

He was an Arc, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Jaune screamed as Salem carved another gash into his body, he writhed and squirmed, trying to escape the agony. He had to endure! He needed to live, or she would move onto his friends, he couldn't allow that!

"Jaune, stay awake!" Ruby pleaded.

"Stop it! You're killing him!" Nora roared.

"Tut tut." Salem sneered, "You're going to lose your mind if this keeps up."

His friends begged him to give up, he shook his head, moaning at the agony of that slow and simple motion.

"No..." he groaned.

"Oh no, no sleep. Wake up."

"No. I won't let you...you won't hurt them!"

"Wake up!" She commanded.

"No!" His hands twisted in his bindings and his aura was flaring and -

A sharp sting of pain suddenly snapped his mind out of his nightmare straight into another. Hands were wrapped around his arms holding him down. Jaune fought and struggled, screaming bloody murder and trying to escape before they killed him, before she killed him. It was dark and people were yelling as he tried to break free. He won't let her touch him, she'll kill him and bring him back to kill him all over again! He wouldn't let her win! He'd never let her, he'd kill her! He fucking murder that bit-

Another sharp pain across is face sent a starburst of clarity through his mind and he looked at the concerned face of his mother, Juniper Arc.

Several things became clear.

She had been slapping him.

His throat hurt.

He had no idea what in Monty's name was happening.

"Mom?" He rasped, wincing as the words stung at his sore throat.

And his cheek was stinging.

"Jaune! What's wrong? You were screaming and moaning, what was you're nightmare this time?" She said, a pulse of her warm and loving aura soothing away his pain and comforting him, "Baby, what happened?"

Jaune looked around, his family crowded around him as he tried to focus. Weren't they all gone, hadn't he failed to protect them? His mind struggled to adjust to the onslaught of thoughts that were scrambling his ability to process things around him. Hazy memory and broken bits of emotion scraped his mind RAW. He tried to grasp on the real bits that swirled through his mind, phantom pain and old instinct cutting into his confusion and sorting through the mess.

He gripped the sides of his head and focused on what he now remembered.

He was five...

He was a child again.

And he had been hallucinating that he had failed his friends.

And screaming.

Aw shit.

He needed to calm down.

He slid against the headboard, throat stinging and hands shaking, "Nightmare?"

His mother glared, "What happened, you were screaming and begging someone not to hurt them! Who's them? What was going on?"

His father gave him an unusually stern look.

Jaune often forgot that for all his easy-going demeanor, his father was a very dangerous hunter, and one didn't become a hunter unless they had intuition and intelligence.

He winced, 'Shit. Shit. Shit.'

He feebly tried to lie, "I don't quite remember, it was just a bad dream, can we pleas-"

His mother's grip on his shoulder became painful, "No we cannot just drop it! The first time you get a decent night's sleep since you been trained and you are screaming bloody murder! You can barely talk now, how can we just drop it?"

Jaune closed his eyes, to be honest, he almost wished he could forget. He glanced at the bedsheets and saw in his distress, his semblance was showing and his clawed hands had sliced up his mattress. His claws had even cut into his semblance-enhanced palms, red blood leaking from four curved cuts in his palm. He noticed his father glance at his hand and look at his face.

He sighed, he'd been able to avoid bad dreams by literally training till he was simply to tired to think, an unintentional side-effect he hadn't minded or had even been particularly cognizant of. Now he realized being too tired for the simple act of thinking meant dreamless oblivion until he woke up for the next day of hell. But school was so simplistic, so easy to deal with, that he could think. And with his thoughts came memories, and with his memories came nightmares of blood, death, and Salem. To be honest, he hadn't even given any thought to being traumatized, but realized that he had died, and repressing it by trying to focus on fighting was hardly good for him.

Unfortunately what he wanted wasn't going to happen.

He shook his head, 'I need to focus on something else.'

He would try to work through his trauma later.

He healed up his hand's wounds with a sharp burst of aura, it was excessive, but did help buy him some time to come up with a believable lie. He slowly let his aura trickle through his throat like a cool stream to a dry desert, biting back sighs of relief as his damaged flexed and healed.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

"There was a monster..." He began, brow furrowing.

Salem was. There really was no other way to describe her. Hell - if anything - calling her a monster was far too kind.

"I was older and a hunter and I had fought her... She was just too strong, or I was too weak... we lost. She took everyone and said once I had enough, she would move on to my family."

He had lost, and his friends might have well been his family, he loved them all like family.

Jaune's hand gently brushed against where he had felt the ghostly remanent of pain of her serrated blade, "It hurt. It hurt so much."

* * *

After a few comforting words of how it was just a nightmare and not real (Jaune bit back his bitter scoff) and just a moment of clinging to his mother and father and soaking up all the love they had to give, Jaune was alone in the dark of his room. He curled up and hid under the covers of his bed, eyes open and staring. He needed to empty his thoughts, his father refused to train him on school days, but he couldn't go back to sleep.

Not with blood, death, and failure waiting like a brand on the back of his eyelids.

Not to mention his shredded mattress needed replacing, but that was minor, at least it was more comfortable than his old sleeping bag.

He sighed and sat up, closing his eyes and going into his cross-legged position. He cleared his mind and tried to hold onto the feeling of not thinking.

That time, his sleep was less traumatic.

But it still hurt.

* * *

When the weekend rolled around, Jaune felt like coiled wire had been run through every single nerve ending in his body and was about ready to burst. His dreams kept him up and while he had managed to temper them with Ren's meditation, whenever he woke up in the morning, his heart was aching and the bitter flavor of 'you let them die' lingered on the tip of his tongue. School was utterly boring, and even within a week, the childish games had become a tedious chore rather than an infinitesimally enjoyable activity.

It came to a head on Thursday, those bullies had swaggered up to him; determined not to be distracted and bothered him. When they swiped at his food, he'd snapped. For all his years, for all his 'be an adult' chants, his emotions raged and the distraught and furious child that had been shoved under pushed back and broke free. His anger - accentuated by his grimm - exploded from a smoldering coal of irritation into a roaring fire. He lunged at them and his fist flew, breaking a nose here and knocking down another kid there; savage glee surging as he let his contained anger out of the carefully constructed walls of his will. By the time he had manage to regain his control, his sisters had him held back and the other kids had backed away from him, eyes wide. The bullies (hypocritical little shits) complained to the principal and despite the fact that Jaune was defending himself, punishments were given out. His father had chewed him out, and his mother tried to get Jaune to think and be better.

He protested how he had told them off for three days straight and his mother understood.

"Why you?" She sighed, "Because they think you're weak and they're strong."

Jaune almost wished they were, but they were children.

He was still a child.

And drinking your damn milk to grow sucked the first time around too.

However, being suspended was actually going to be a lot more productive for him than he initially thought he would. His father was taking his turn at the walls, his mother was in the house, and his sisters were at school. His mother asked him what he was heading out to do, and he shrugged before saying he may as well get some training in.

He started with his semblance.

He tested the way it affected his body and after his arm turned grey he swung at a tree as though he was trying to clothesline the inanimate object. His arm sank into the wood like an axe, and he pulled it out. He ran his finger against the angular edge it only to hiss in slight shock as his arm literally cut his finger.

His body was cover in what seemed like a skin made entirely of blades, sharp and biting as though it was steel.

He considered the capabilities before shrugging, it was protecting like his old shielding semblance that he could essentially fight the same way he had learned how to. He knew that he had people he planned to kill, he wasn't the same person who wanted to only protect, and his semblance now reflected the malevolence and pain he knew he was going to cause. But he would use any weapon he could find to strike down what would dare attack what was HIS.

Oh well.

He tried to see if his aura could be used on other things when he picked up a tree branch. Instead of his aura simply reinforcing the branch not to break, it shifted, taking the shape of Crocea Mors, and it still looked like wood, but when he sliced at the tree he had taken the branch from, he cut into it. Jaune leaned against the tree and picked up a handful of dirt and clenched it in his fist. He let out a trickle of aura into the dust and felt it shift in his hand. The dirt solidified and shifted and soon Jaune was holding a dagger that was made out dirt, it was small, but it was a blade. Jaune spun it in his hand and drove it into the tree he was resting against. It sank hilt deep into the wood like it was butter. Jaune let go of the hilt and hummed thoughtfully.

"So that's what it is..." He mused.

Could he make more than blades? He'd have to practice if he could. Most of the time, when he thought of weapons, he thought of swords or blades, he had never taken to other weapons...

But it didn't mean he couldn't learn. A sword had it's limitations as well.

It would be very useful, he couldn't wait to see the look on Pyr-

He cut the thought off, he didn't want to think about her, about possibilities and what might or might not be true.

It's not like he didn't miss his friends, but at the same time, after everything they had gone through, Jaune simply couldn't imagine them as strangers. To see them not notice him - for someone like Yang not throw an enthusiastic arm over his shoulder and drag him to the sparring ring to test her new arm, Ruby to act quiet and shy around him, even Weiss to act colder and indifferent - and walk on by, would hurt quite alot. It wasn't anyone's fault but his own either, and frankly there wasn't anything to be done. He worried most about Pyrrha, if she did remember, that would be fantastic, he would have at least one person. but if she didn't...

He sighed, "There's no point in dwelling on that. I have to get stronger and musing won't help me."

He took a deep breath an opened his eyes.

They gleamed a blood-red crimson.

"Just you wait Salem. I will kill you." He growled.

* * *

Time went on as Jaune kept growing. The schools bullies backed off and Jaune stayed as friendly as possible as he worked with his father in becoming a better hunter. He went first for skill, as much as the idea of getting more muscle was appealing, he could do that on his own time, his father knew better ways to attack and defend. It was never too early to begin learning his own style and he wondered at how effective a style he could create if he could mix what he had known and what he was learning.

His style had been more suited to Mistralian fighting (with slight undertones of what his father told him before in passing) as Pyrrha had been the one teaching him until the attack on Beacon. So he fought in a way that put more importance for shielding; a fighter must knock off his opponent to the ground while protecting his body with the shield. He can then finish the opponent off with a stab by sword, waiting for an opening by weathering the storm. Training with his father capitalized capability of movement. He tried to evade, dodge, slip and out-maneuver his opponents. He would strike when a target was available, provided he would not make himself vulnerable while doing so. He had to be a fighter that was a cautious and cunning combatant. He had to be quick, careful and utterly ruthless.

Almost opposites.

He could use both, the question was could they mix into a cohesive style?

However Jaune was not only learning about his blade, his father was adamant about his use of a shield.

"One of the most misunderstood weapons is the shield, many think it is little more than a small wall to catch the blows of an opponent." His father explained, gesturing with wooden replica of Crocea Mors in demonstration with Juniper, " In actuality, the shield and its smaller version, the buckler, are weapons in their own right. Rather than catching a blow passively, they are moved to parry and deflect. A fighter would rather push a blow aside than catch its full force on his shield. Shields and bucklers are also used aggressively. They can strike, push, trap and pin as well as defend."

He demonstrated by slamming the edge of his shield into a tree and leaving a indent in the wood and by directing a blow from his wife to the side rather than hunkering down to take it all.

So Jaune worked out in his spare time and learned how to fight with his father.

He ran, did sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, and a variety of other physical exercises to train his body, while his father taught him how to parry and block, how to fight if his shield was knocked off his arm, how to disarm an opponent if unarmed or with weapons, and hand-to-hand combat.

The only problem was his body.

He was a child, and science showed that as a child is growing relatively quickly when compared to the other stages of life.

Therefore, children slept longer than adults.

And sleeping also carried it's own trouble. Jaune was always beyond exhausted after training, clinging desperately to any sliver of energy as he swayed. Despite the fact that most of the time he was too tired to even dream (or even remember his dreams), when he did dream, he would wake to himself muffling his cries into his pillows and his fingers clawing at palms of his hands. He would take a moment to collect himself before trying to fall asleep again, focusing on individual breaths. Constant reminders of what he would lose if he was unable to protect those he loved flitted through his memory. What if this was all for naught, what the-

'No.' He would remind himself, 'You WILL NOT fail.'

* * *

Emerald eyes, wet with fading tears slipped shut as she pressed her face into the fabric of her mother's sleeping robe.

"Pyrrha? Are you okay?" Her mother said as she smoothed her daughter's crimson hair and pressed the distraught child a bit tighter her.

Aurelia's daughter had been having nightmares on and off for the past week and despite her nightmares eliciting only quiet whimpers and groans, Aurelia was a light enough sleeper that it woke her. She would wake her daughter and pull her into hug, running her hair and soothing her daughter. She thought the nightmares would fade, but they kept coming back, almost like the tide of the water on a beach.

Her daughter took a moment to respond, "I... I'm fine, just... I am scared of seeing him and him forgetting me."

"Who? What's his name?" Aurelia whispered, "Do I know of him?"

Her daughter shook her head, "A friend, I... I just miss him."

Aurelia frowned at this, wondering if she had a crush on some boy, but her daughter didn't seem partial to any of the boys she met at school. If anything, she seemed a bit distant from all of them and often spent her time reading about Vale. It was also strange to see her daughter work so hard at training. Her father had suggested that she could be a hunter, and Pyrrha had readily leapt at the opportunity. However, they were unprepared for how fast she learned every technique they taught her, almost as though it was second nature.

While her mother mused, Pyrrha begged.

'Jaune...' she thought, heart aching she pleaded with the sky, 'Please... Don't forget me. I need you.'


	5. Chapter 5

**So it's been brought to my attention that some people think that Jaune wants to forget his friends.**

 **To answer your questions.**

 **It's like you have your best friend in the whole world.**

 **But she/he has forgotten you.**

 **You know everything about her/him; you remember every single good time and moment that made you two best friends, but she/he doesn't remember, how would you feel? Watching them laugh and smile with people who aren't you, and you are alone.**

 **Jaune's feels alone. And he wants to have his friends back. He wants to have someone other than his family (who he believes is obligated to love him), that will be there for him. RWBY and (J)NPR was that for him, and right when everything was going moderately well, Season 3 happened and it all went to hell. He's never been lucky though, from what we've seen (cannon-wise so far), he's had everything taken from him when it just seems to be going right. So frankly I think that he finds being able to meet his Pyrrha is just too good to be true. He tries to cut the thoughts of his old friends off because he really can't bear the thought that they won't recognize him. He doesn't hope because of the 'wolf-in-sheep's-clothing' idea of hope.**

 **Also for those of you wondering why the hell there is a Prologue in the title...**

 **The real story (canon-wise) began at Beacon, and If you read my suicide apology letter, you would have noticed that I said this story will focus on the time spent before Beacon. At the moment, I have no intention of sending him to Beacon until the end (or perhaps a sort of shadowing thing freshmen do for high schools). However, you will be seeing familiar faces, and this is just to clear up some confusion.**

 **Also this is after an 8 or so year timeskip. (I couldn't bring myself to write in his WHOLE childhood).**

 **-YARN**

 **P.S. Fuck this chapter, it sucks.**

* * *

Jaune weaved through a flurry of blows before he whipped up his weighted training shield to take a solid blow from his father. Jaune didn't dig in his heels as Pyrrha once taught him, it would only strain his body and tire him out, but rather let the blow propel him back. He flipped before landing in a crouch. His father advanced, wooden blade slicing through the air. Jaune ducked and rolled to the side before he swiped the flat of his wooden blade to block the edge of his father's shield from hitting his chest. He twisted around the blow, letting his wooden blade drag against the shield, keeping it in place, before he slammed the edge of his shield into his father's chest.

His father huffed before lashing out with a kick that caught Jaune in the chin, knocking him on his back. Jaune growled and rolled out of the way as his father's wooden sword stabbed deeply into the ground where Jaune's head would have been. Jaune kicked out while lying down and his foot caught his father's knee, forcing John to kneel. Jaune pushed off the ground using his hands, gaining some distance as he landed on his feet.

His father was already on top of him and began raining blows down on Jaune. Jaune growled as he raised his shield, blocking the flurry of blows. He just barely slipped away as John brought his sword down on a particularly strong blow, which sent up a plume of dust. John sliced his blade through the cloud twice in an X, dispersing it and waited. Jaune moved in low, slicing at his legs, only for John to lightly hop over the slice and stab the wooden blade down. Jaune rolled away but his father followed with a soccer kick to the ribs that turned his roll into an uncontrolled tumble into a tree.

Again.

Jaune gasped and panted as he got up.

His father straightened and smiled proudly, "Very good job Jaune, I'm impressed. Your style has improved again and I really felt that last blow."

Jaune chuckled weakly as they hung up their weapons, "Thanks Dad. I couldn't have made it this far without you."

His father walked to his son and hugged him, "You're my son, you'll outdo us all in time son, don't ever doubt yourself."

Jaune grinned and let his aura move on to fix his injuries.

"Where'd you learn that style anyway, it's well put together." His father inquired as they made their way inside.

Jaune scratched his cheek, remembering his friends and how he took parts of each of their styles and incorporated them in his new style, "Well, I've been watching some of the tournament channels, and tried taking bits and pieces of what I saw, trying to cover what weaknesses in my style I could pinpoint. I weave a lot and use our shields more like weapon, so I took some of Mistral's traits in blocking with a buckler and blade and used it as a way to minimize the amount of time when my guard would be at it's weakest and help my defense. Then, while I can throw a decent jab with the edge of the shield, I added a bit of what most expert aura boxers use to give just a touch of extra pain, while adding the ability to twist inward and backpedal. I saw some faunus fighters crouch low and kind run-hop to the side and under blows, so while I may be a human, I try to emulate that on occasion when my opponent is a bit sturdier and more tank-like, so I can whittle him down and attack the base of his stance. I noticed a lot of martial artists direct attacks away and let opponent stumble over the force of their inertia, then they counter. I added that concept to my hand-to-hand and let blows move past me while trying to move into their blind spots to deliver my attacks."

He hadn't been able to use Weiss, Ruby's, or Nora's styles in his new form because of their weapons and subsequent styles that focus them. Nora used a hammer, enough said. Although, Weiss' rapier was a blade, but due to the heavy emphasis on fencing, it required a certain finesse and style that was complimented by her glyphs, not a random bursts of aura. Jaune knew that the style of fencing required wrist movements, not elbow swipes, but a style like that really wasn't meant for a blade like Crocea Mors anyway. Ruby's style was tricky to emulate even with a regular scythe, let alone a sword, and while Jaune had learned that Qrow had given Ruby a basic instruction and crash course in swordsmanship due to his weapon's initial form, she excelled with her scythe as much as he did with his.

His father snickered, "You're a bit of a fighting enthusiast aren't you?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his head, blushing as he realized he had rambled a bit, "Just a tad."

Jaune had been spending eight years under his father's tutelage, and his improvement was massive, he had quickly improved when compared to the progress he had under the relatively short time he had spent with Pyrrha's time in teaching him (his father was quite ruthless when it came to training, Pyrrha had been slower allowing Jaune to adjust to the rather sedate pace at first), he could confidently say that he would have no problem in any combat high school he would be accepted in. To that end, Jaune had almost obsessively researched any scholarships that would allow him in schools free and they were mostly for gifted individuals who aced the entrance exams and the physical tests. So, with that in mind, Jaune immersed himself in his studies, making sure to score nothing less than perfect grades. It wasn't hard, Jaune could have breezed past most of it without trying, but he figured any knowledge gained now would only assist him in the long run.

He also built up his old relationships that he had and improved others. Before he was much more socially awkward, granted, overall that hadn't changed too much, but he had a lot more friends his age this time around, while also making time to interact with the younger kids as well. He made amends with whoever he could and by the time he was this age he was just the general, nice guy of the village.

Jaune was still panicked about the impending date of his departure, sure it was still a bit off, but it was there. Not to mention the fact that his parents had told him to go to SIGNAL of all possible schools for him to go to.

The same school as Ruby and Yang, which caused a whole new dimension of complications.

After Pyrrha, he hadn't exactly been alone in his grieving, Ruby had blamed herself for not making it in time, but hadn't let that pain consume her.

Jaune hadn't been as strong and let the darkness have him, Ruby had to (quite literally) knock him out of his bout of anger and depression. He would stay awake and keep practicing until hunger, thirst, and sleep was more of a vital need that a mild deterrent. He wasn't coping well with his guilt and kept trying to push it to the back of his mind.

They had been best friends, family even, seeing her not know him? That was going to be like a punch to the gut.

* * *

 _[Flashback]  
_

 _Ruby woke to the sound of faint thuds coming from the forest. With a sigh, she sat up and got to her feet. She slipped on her cloak an walked out of her tent after putting on her boots. Snow crunching under her shoes, she walked towards the sound to see Jaune slicing through a tree with Crocea Mors, only to launch himself at another and carve a line in its trunk with his ancestral blade. He panted and Ruby winced as she saw he had taken off his gloves and blood trails were running from how tightly he gripped his sword. Drops of blood had dotted the snow and Ruby suddenly realized this was why Jaune seemed so tired. He wasn't sleeping and instead was spending all his time training, or - more accurately -torturing himself._

 _"Jaune!" She yelled, running forward as she saw his hand spurt a small spout of blood._

 _He stopped and turned to her woodenly._

 _"What?" He growled._

 _"Your hands!" She said._

 _He glared at the blood and with a sharp flash, they were scabbing over into fading scars, "What about them?" He panted._

 _Ruby seemed to falter at his anger, waving a hand at the damage to the trees, "Jaune... How long have you been at this?"_

 _"Does it matter?" He growled, turning away._

 _She grabbed his arm, "Jaune is this about Pyrrh-"_

 _Jaune face twisted into a scowl and he pulled away, anger bursting like a dam that shattered._

 _"I should have called sooner! I should have cut my way out of that locker! I should have done my fucking job and protected Pyrrha before Cinder took all of the Maiden's power! I should have died there! Not her! If anything, Pyrrha should be here with you, not me!" He snapped, and continuing to slash at the tree as though it was Cinder, "It's all my fault! I may have well been the one who shot her! Me!"_

 _Ruby took a step back before her eyes hardened and she walked up to Jaune and slapped him._

 _He stumbled sideways and held a hand to his cheek, "What the hell Ruby?"_

 _She slapped him again and he fell back on his ass._

 _"You listen Jaune!" She growled, "You didn't kill Pyrrha, you tried your best and it wasn't enough. I get that you hate it and you wish you had died instead, but that's not what happened! You're here now, and tearing yourself to pieces while torturing yourself isn't going to help anyone!"_

 _Jaune got to his feet, "How do you know? It's not like you failed your partner who trusted you!"_

 _Ruby glared, "What about Yang? Blake? Weiss? Yang's lost her arm! Blake's missing! And Weiss had been taken by her father! My team is in shambles and I'm not losing it and blaming myself for all that!"_

 _"It's not your fault!" Jaune yelled._

 _"Pyrrha's death isn't yours!" Ruby yelled right back, "You want to blame someone? Blame the people who planned this and are causing all this pain! You need to pull yourself together! I can't do this alone and Nora and Ren need you!"_

 _Jaune looked away, face twisted into a complicated expression, "I'm not enough, you told me I couldn't be a failure... But that's all I am. No matter how hard I try, I fail..."_

 _"Jaune, you TRIED. A lot of other people who had more skill and better training would have run or refused, but you tried! That's what matters! Sometimes we do our best and we still don't win, but as long as we try, we haven't lost everything." Ruby walked forward and took his hand, "Please, stop blaming yourself. Pyrrha wouldn't blame you, nobody does. Just please, give yourself some peace of mind."_

 _Jaune looked a her, searching for something; maybe he found it, because he relented._

 _Sighing and looking down, he sheathed his weapons and clipped them back to his belt, "Fine... Let's head back." He managed a weak smile, "I guess I could use some sleep, huh?"_

 _[Flashback End]_

* * *

Pyrrha let out a muted exhale of near disappointment as she blocked a solid strike from the brown-haired youth that attacked her. She bunted one blow off to the side before she ducked under her opponent's slash as she spun her javelin expertly in her hand as it shifted into blade. She jabbed the blunt end into her opponent's stomach before spinning the weapon in her hand, slashing upwards and kicking out her opponents leg out from under him; knocking the hapless boy flat on his back.

She sighed and sheathed her weapons before holding out a hand to help out her groaning classmate, "Good fight."

He sat up and clasped her hand, using it to yank himself to his feet, "Thanks, Nikos. You're just too strong."

She kept her composure at that comment, trying to ignore the pang of distress in her chest as she stepped of the stage to sit heavily in a bench. It was... difficult to hear that like she had before, before she hadn't known exactly how removed from her peers she would become. She had gone through the same struggle before, and although she knew - come her time at Beacon - that she would meet true friends, but that didn't mean she was happy to hear the same comments that led to the same separation from her peers as before.

She had toyed with the idea of not competing in the Mistral Tournament, or perhaps competing once or twice and leaving it at that, but ultimately decided that if she wanted to really convince her parents to let her go to Beacon, she should follow as much of the original timeline as she could. They had sent her to Beacon initially because of how she wiped out the competition in Mistral during the tournaments. Her parents would also know if she intentionally lost as they made sure to keep tabs on her progress through spars. It was expected of her and to be honest, the tournament was really the most fun she had during her time in high-school.

She had even toyed with the idea of moving to Vale as early as high school, attend Signal and meet Ruby and Yang early. Ultimately she had decided against that as well, not really wanting to leave her parents at all. There was even pain in the thought of going to Vale.

She died there.

Waking up as a child after that had been... unpleasant and something of a complete shock (to say the least). She had been plagued with nightmares and panic attacks in the middle of the night. To the point that she had slept in her mother's bed, which gave her a measure of comfort. Though she had finally managed to get over the trauma of her death, she hadn't been able to sleep some nights, her mind replaying the last moments of her life.

The pain of the arrow in her heart.

The burning pain slowly spreading through her body.

Cinder's satisfied eyes and cold smile.

The Fall Maiden killed her as she slowly burned away, the last flickers of her consciousness were of her partner.

Jaune.

She missed him.

She missed him so much it hurt.

She hadn't been able to grow old with him, to love him, and realized that towards the end of her life she had been pushing him farther and farther away. Only to show how much she cared for him before getting him to safety rather than risk him doing something stupidly brave.

Which he would have done.

Without even hesitating.

She prayed ever day that he remembered. She might not be able to handle it if he didn't. It wasn't fair if she was alone, but she desperately hoped the universe wasn't that cruel. If he didn't know her, she might begin crying whenever he was close, and she would lose one of the few people she loved before she had a chance. He had chosen to go with her, but she had no way of knowing if he remembered.

She shook her head to clear it of her depressing thoughts as someone tapped her shoulder and she looked up to see her professor looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Nikos, are you okay? You weren't paying attention." He said, "Class is ending."

She smiled and waved a hand, "My apologies. I was lost in thought."

Her teacher nodded and she quickly made her way to her locker before changing and packing her things into a duffel bag. With that over her shoulder she began to make her way to the exit when she was accosted by some friends. Pyrrha smiled and chatted with them for some time before checking the time and waving them off with a hurried, "I need to get home!"

Truthfully, she knew her parents wouldn't mind her spending time outside of school with friends due to how removed she had been for the years after her coming back, but Pyrrha was hardly interested. She had wanted friends and at the moment had them, but to be honest she harbored a spark of resentment at all of them for abandoning her. It probably wasn't fair and their intentions had been for the best, but she hated it. They didn't see how it hurt, they didn't know how much Pyrrha wanted them to stay.

And although Pyrrha has forgiven and moved on, the memories sat like lead in her stomach.

* * *

Jaune wasn't sure why his dad had decided to wake him in the dead of the night, but didn't mind, it wasn't like he had plans beyond sleep and try to stave off he nightmares (something which he had gotten marginally better at). John simply took Crocea Mors from the case it was held in and led Jaune into the forest. It was late enough that the clearing they practiced in was bathed in the silver light of the moon.

"So... Why all the late night secrecy?" Jaune said.

John smiled and opened his hand, palm facing the sky, "To show you the true power of Crocea Mors and our ancestral line."

Crocea Mors shattered into light.

A small wisp of flame sputtered to life half a foot above John's hand and flickered and ethereal gold and white. It burned hotter and brighter, something more than simple fire. Frost began to swirl and the temperature dropped, ice wreathing the flames and hovering three inches below the flame, separating the palm from the flames. Silver light darted in the ice, dancing on the edges of the ice and giving of a distinct feel of power.

Stronger than Jaune had ever been able to make.

John's face turned serious and held out his hand to his son, "Jaune. This is the heavenly power that made our family powerful, this is more than a simple trick with aura, more than something that be found in nature. These are things that shouldn't exist here yet were given to our family. However that makes them doubly volatile. I know you have a knack for control, I've seen it, and I know you can see why you shouldn't throw this power around without good reason. So, I want you to take Crocea Mors, My father gave me this blade and now I pass it onto you."

Jaune held out his hand, and felt the familiar weight and feel of the grip in his hand. He closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling of the sword's familiarity, like a piece of him that he was missing. As he took the blade, the ice and fire flitted from John's hand to the sword in Jaune's hand. Warmth and Coolness spread in equal measure from his chest to every part of his body until he felt...

Complete.

"I'll teach you in the morning, get your rest." John said clapping a hand on Jaune's shoulder.


	6. Chapter 6

**Guess who made a half-assed youtube video just to talk for shits and giggles?**

 **Sound terrible in it though...**

 **Also, I want to bring something up.**

 **Now I like writing, well enough that I do it because I simply like doing it and get satisfaction when I finish a chapter. But I noticed one author whose stories were some of the best I've read took down all their stories and left a note explaining how the FF community was not kind to them due to the slow update speed. Some asshole left a condescending review about how slow the author was and how he/she should put a story up for adoption if you take months to update.**

 **THAT. IS. BULLSHIT.**

 **When someone writes on this site, they do it because they have free time and are willing to put in an effort to write something you can read! You don't like how long it takes? Suck it up and find a hobby to wait. I write slow, I take all the time I need, and that applies to every single author here.**

 **When and if I abandon a story, I WILL SAY IT.**

 **When and if I put a story up for adoption, I WILL SAY IT.**

 **I haven't personally faced any of this sort of discrimination, but I just want everyone here to know that I like to consider myself a fairly tolerant fellow, yet even I can get fed up and the loss of such a talented writer has frankly pissed me off beyond belief.**

 **Be considerate, and if you can't manage that, be quiet. Constructive criticism only.**

 **Now if' you'd all excuse me, I am disheartened by the author situation and want to cheer myself up.**

 **-YARN**

* * *

Jaune let out a slow exhale as he kept his concentration focused on lowering the large flame that glimmered gold and white. A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead as he began to force the fire to shrink without going out completely. After it was almost a single spark dancing in his palm, he raised his other hand.

This was hard to hold, despite any of his previous knowledge or experience. Fire was never truly meant to be tamed after all, it was like restraining a lion with a cage when it's food was on the opposite side. Regardless, he tamped down on the flame until it was on the verge of dying, only his will keeping the fragile spark alive; if he flared it, it would be so much easier.

But that would defeat the purpose of the training.

"Almost there son, try to shape it." John said calmly, observing Jaune from a yard away, "Remember, try to grasp the energy and mould it to your will, don't let your concentration waver. It'll become instinctual in time, but for now, just focus on what you want it to do."

Jaune gently moved his other hand over the flame and twisted his hands until they were vertically placed about a foot apart, calling the existing fire to his left hand but focusing on keeping it also held in his right. The fire slowly flowed like a liquid, twisting into a glimmering strand of flame as it stretched that connected to the palms of his hand. He bit his lip as the thin strand trembled, threatening to separate into two individual flames or flare up against his will. Jaune took a deep breath and held it there, enforcing his will over it, he wouldn't let it shatter. He gently rotated his hands and clasped them together as though he had been clapping. He took a breath and began to separate the strand into individual points of flames that tingled on his skin within the cage of his hands.

With a sharp "Ha!" Jaune flung his hands out and the flames shot out in five intense darts of flame that shot through the wooden training post they were using as a target, leaving sizzling holes where they went and even burning gouts into the trees at the edges of the clearing.

Jaune nodded to himself.

Then he started with ice, he made two gentle circular motions with his hands, watching the frost form and swirl into ice spikes. When he felt as though he had created a sufficient number of them, Jaune closed his hands into a fists as he pulled them back, pushing the ice spikes together and forming more spikes that jutted out from the center until they looked more like the striking heads of a flail.

Except with an ungodly amount of spikes of varying lengths and sizes.

Jaune held his hands back and then shoved them outward, launching the two spiked ice spheres into the post that his father had set up for training.

Which shattered into dozens of splinters of shattered and pierced wood. The two spiked balls of ice impacted a tree and stayed embedded in it.

"Well done, son!" John said, clapping.

Jaune straightened and cracked his neck, "I didn't expect the fire and ice to be so... manipulatable."

Jaune had only used his holy elements to call Crocea Mors to his side and shoot off the elements in short bursts before. He had even made swords out of the elements and had used them multiple times in combat.

But what he was learning now?

He knew that while his raw power was undeniable, he had no finesse. Holy fire and ice were more than the elements that were found in the natural world, he could shape them, even use them to divert attack of similar elements and energy, maybe even mitigate the damage that came of different elements. he could even manipulate the intensity of the heat and or chill. Even those incredible tricks were the tip of the iceberg that he could do if he used his imagination. The only problem was that learning to do so was a slow process that had to do with grasping the energy of the fire and ice, and Jaune really didn't like how long it took.

Especially since he was never given the proper grounding in the basics at all until just now.

John shrugged, "I didn't either, but my father told me that I just had to be creative. What I am teaching you now? That's what I began with, you have to build your own style of weapons and power and I can't do that for you. What I used when I fought at your age simply won't be what's good for you."

Jaune had accepted that, his fighting style was simple too different from his father's. He wasn't his father, so his creations and improvisations would need to be tailored to his needs and desires. Jaune would have to begin listing out what would work for him, and that really was going to be a long process as well.

He'd already had an filled schedule that was only going to intensify from here on in. He had practiced sensing aura with his grimm, fighting with his shadows, swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, item crafting with his semblance, aura strengthening, and now he had the subtler aspects of the holy fire and ice to practice with. He had asked to take his exams early, at the very beginning of the year so he didn't have to deal with the remainder of the school year (one good thing about living in the small village is they were rather lax in the whole need for schooling when you proved to be smart enough to pass as valedictorian without trying [mainly due to the fact that he was technically about 25 or so]) and could spend more time training with his father. After sending his application to Signal and getting a date set in the later half of August for a skill test, he had thrown himself into training.

* * *

Pyrrha bit back a yawn as her teacher droned on.

It was almost amusing in a way, the first time around she always was diligent and focused. But as time dragged on and her time at Mistral was slowly diminishing, she felt... less inclined to put up that pretense. She paid attention, just enough so that if her teacher asked a question, she could answer with confidence and get the right answer, but her mind was on other matters.

Mainly about how she took all this time for granted.

Sparring with her classmates was fun, but that was also limited until she won her second tournament. She had friends and people to hang out with before it all went downhill, and despite the slight touch of awkwardness that she felt this time, she worked hard to reinforce those friendships.

She hoped they'd last this time around, she could use them.

She looked at the sunlight filtering through the tree branches and remembered when Jaune had sat with her next the cafeteria as she asked about the Fall Maiden's powers.

She missed Jaune.

She missed Nora and Ren.

She missed JNPR and RWBY and even Beacon.

She wanted to be there now, she wanted to be better this time around and defeat as many monsters as she could.

She wouldn't let herself fail.

She let out a muted exhale and turned to blackboard as her teacher wrote down their homework for that day.

For now though, she had other obligations.

* * *

Moonlight filtered through the open curtains of Jaune's bedroom.

Jaune blew out a breath as he leaned away from the weapon design papers spread out on his bed, it wasn't even close to done, "I really wish Ruby was here to help me, she could make this work in less than an hour."

He realized that as far as Crocea Mors went, it was an older weapon. It wasn't at all unable to stand it's ground with the more modern weapons and to be fair it was unbreakable (or more accurately insanely and absurdly difficult to damage in any way as well as easily reformable if shattered) but even so, maybe there was room for improvement. He ran a hand through his hair as he poured over the forging notes he had gathered from the scroll he had been given for his 11th birthday. With a frustrated groan he leaned back and covered his face with his hands, inhaling a thins stream of air through the slight gaps through his palms.

He wasn't cut out for this, he wasn't like Ruby with her endless optimism and speed, Yang with her incredible strength and will, Weiss with her fluid grace and intelligence, or Blake with her stealth and cunning. He wasn't Ren with his passive but formidable power, or Nora with her overwhelming strength and positive outlook.

He wasn't like Pyrrha either.

He shook of the self-depreciating thoughts - those weren't helping him at the moment - and turned his mind back to what he knew.

His full power was what made the blade better, but that was only able to be used as a 'I need to use this or I would lose and this is a fight I can't afford to lose'. Throwing a power like that around like a party favor would make it become something to expect, and he needed as many hidden aces as he could get. He looked at his hand, he needed a weapon that he could use and use more... modern means than:

'SLICE SLICE SLICE, SWING SWORD TILL DEAD.'

He could use dust, Weiss gave him enough practice so he could manipulate it well enough. He had his old bow, but to be honest he hated the fact that Cinder was just a good an archer as he was. Hell, she might just be better. But he couldn't forge a new weapon yet, he didn't have any experience in weapon making, he would get some help at Signal, all students were offered supplementary classes...

"Maybe I should make a sort of blade gun..." He mused to himself.

He looked at the shadows of his room and pulled them towards him. Like snakes, tendrils of darkness slithered through the air and curled around him, cocooning him in darkness. He closed his eyes and made the shadows stack his papers back in order before making them pool into his hand like a puddle of black water. Jaune let holy fire spark in the center and held back almost all of holy power as the shadows consumed the spark. Plates of bone followed before they swallowed his hand and drank in the shadows as well as the fire before a flame reappeared.

The fire however, changed.

The previously white and gold flame was gone and replaced with pitch black. Red and orange streams reminiscent of grimm's eyes wove between the black and the fire glowed with black light. Jaune tilted his head and closed his fist, crushing the flames and shattering the bones that had covered his hands. He watched the splinters of bone hit the floor and dissipate into darkness.

"Well... at least if I have to fight, I have more than few tricks up my sleeves for both sides of the spectrum..." He sighed.

* * *

Pyrrha ducked under a bladed whip and spun her javelin, knocking the weapon away from her torso. Her opponent ducked under her own whip as she slid into Pyrrha's space, jabbing with the long handle of her whip at Pyrrha's stomach. Pyrrha moved her buckler to cover her stomach and shoved Akouo down, knocking the blow away as she twisted on a leg, kicking the girl across the face and forcing her to tumble away. The girl jumped out of the tumble to lad on her haunches and winced as she felt at the pain that she knew chipped another bit of her aura off her bar.

Pyrrha moved to follow, and the girl spun the handle of her whip as the segments compacted into a long handled sword. She blocked the first jab with her hilt of Milo and spun away as she slashed high with her blade. Pyrrha let the blow slide across Akouo she ducked into the assault twirling Milo into a short sword. She made a quarter turn to the right and used Milo to glide the blow away as the girl used her momentum to attack with an upward slash. Pyrrha pushed her arm out and moved Akouo to guide blade into the floor before smacking the girl in the collar with an elbow. The girl reeled and stumbled back before Pyrrha spun Milo and knocked her to the floor with the flat of Milo's blade.

"Ow..." The girl groaned.

Pyrrha leapt back to get some distance and quickly reset her stance.

"Enough!" A teacher called, "Pyrrha Nikos is the victor! Arria Fadilla's Aura has fallen into the red!"

Arria let out another exaggerated groan at that and flopped onto her back in an undignified manner, "You're too strong, I demand you get weaker, Pyr!"

Pyrrha let out a giggle, happy to have made the effort to really get to know the girl when she picked up on her personality. She had only known the shorter girl in passing in her previous life, but found her to be a mix of Ruby, Yang, and Nora. She had Ruby's naivety when it came to so many things, but at the same time, she never lacked confidence in herself like Yang. Which left her personality that was excitable like Nora.

But only like.

Not as much as Nora.

No one could be as excitable and energetic as Nora.

Either way, Arria found all the stuffy high-class antics of the nobles in Mistral to be too tiresome to follow and simply acted any way she wished. While that usually created a rift between her and other people, Pyrrha had immediately moved to befriend her.

Pyrrha prayed she wouldn't move away once Pyrrha won the tournaments because Arria was very quickly becoming her best friend in Mistral.

Pyrrha held out her hand, "I'm sorry?"

Arria shook her head and clasped Pyrrha's hand to yank herself to her feet, "I'm joking. If anything, I'm glad that you're as strong as you are. So many guys are always boasting about how their the best and then you knock them out! It's a riot!"

"Glad to see you finding an upside to their misery." Pyrrha remarked dryly.

"Someone has to!" Arria replies, half-defensively, half-cheerfully, "It's too depressing to watch them all mope after you beat them up."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes.

* * *

"So you want us to go to several different hunter prep schools? Why?" A voice inquired confusedly, "You've never cared what has been happening as of late in the world, let alone with those who consider themselves hunters."

A man seated on a chair made of black stone and twisted bones picked up a chess piece of the board that was in front of him, "Let's just say... Certain... Destinies are being formed, and the queen is preparing the board and gathering her pieces. At the very least, I do want a front row seat to the opening act when the game begins, it'll surely be a spectacle to see."

One of the people scoffed, "These people have made a mockery of warriors! Hunters? Ha! They use their weapons as though it is some silly theatrical play or a prop! They don't know the feeling of simple and sheer battle, the rush as you claw and scrape at the edge to survive! Where nothing matters except who can take more pain and deal it out!" The figure spat disgustedly, "I don't even know why you bother with them, I would let them all die."

The man on the throne crushed the chess piece and smiled as it drained out of his hand as fine dust that scattered in the breeze, "You do have good points, but how can one have a kingdom and be king if there are no people to rule over? I don't intend to let that thing take the world from me. I need to secure the loyalties of as many as I can, and that requires the youth. Besides, until very recently, there was no power large enough - barring the few with the chosen power - for me to take an interest in the affairs... but now... well lets just say a select few have managed to pique my interests."

"Shall we begin this year?"

"No... The time is not yet ripe, a few years and we shall begin."

"Where will we go?"

"Have you heard of a place known as Beacon Academy?"

* * *

 **In re-reading of this story so far I was think of how little interaction Jaune has been having with his sisters, I was think of maybe putting in a side-story or a few chapters that goes through Jaune's relations with his sisters over the years in this new life.**

 **Opinions?**

 **-YARN**


	7. Chapter 7

**Omake Inbound:**

 **A seven year old, Jaune let out a panicked breath as he slumped against the thin barrier that kept him safe.**

 **How?**

 **How could this happen again? How had he been so stupid?**

 **He couldn't let it, not again! He wasn't as naive to the way of those horrible traitors as he was before, especially in that tone of voice!**

 **Innocent as an angel?**

 **He shivered.**

 **The barrier thudded as his tormentors bashed against it, making the barrier shake and wobble.**

 **"We know you're in there! You can't escape!" One called.**

 **Jaune cursed in his head as he scanned the surrounding area for an escape.**

 **He saw one chance and realized he would have to time it perfectly if he had any chance of survival. He took a deep breath and lunged at the lock blocking his salvation, desperately unlatching the lock.**

 **The door swung open as the monsters finally gained entrance.**

 **Jia, Bianca, and Violet barged in just as Jaune slid the lower half of the window up.**

 **"Get him!" Violet yelled.**

 **He flung himself out the window and let his aura cushion the impact before sprinting like hell away from his home.**

 **"Using your aura's cheating Jaune!" Jia complained.**

 **"You are NEVER putting me in a dress! NEVER!" Jaune hollered, running like a madman for the forest.**

 **His oldest sisters didn't hesitate to follow him and he ducked behind a tree as they followed. He wasn't going to wear. dress ever again! In any life!**

 **He held his breath as they searched for him.**

 **Suddenly his instincts screamed and he dove out of his hiding place just out of reach of Jia's hands.**

 **"Drat!" She complained.**

 **He looked back at her, which turned out to be a crucial mistake.**

 **Bianca scooped him up as he tried to get away and he struggled to free himself without hurting her.**

 **"NOOOOOOO!" He cried as she grinned at Violet who held out the dress.**

 **"Yes!" Violet began to lift the accursed fabric up.**

 **He realized that he had no choice and just as they began to shove the dress over his head, he activated his semblance in his hands and swiped his hands at the cloth covering his vision. He finished shredding the fabric and squirmed hard enough for his sister let go in shock. He landed in a crouch and bolted away.**

 **"Jaune, you ruined the dress completely!" Bianca complained., "Now we have to get a new one!"**

 **"Never!" Jaune roared as he dashed.**

 **[A.N. Don't even ask why, just don't.]**

* * *

Loud thwacks sounded as Jaune's fist cracked against the training bracers his father was using. Jaune spun and launched a roundhouse kick at the bracer, and another loud crack echoed through the clearing. John steadily retreated and advanced, moving to give Jaune a challenge as he kept pounding the wood. His father had made sure Jaune had a decent amount of training in hand-to-hand combat, claiming that only a fool would ignore the possibility of being disarmed. Jaune had eagerly agreed but wanted to learn to help his fighting when he was using his holy elements, he could have made blades with ice, but using only one weapons was sure to be a crutch if he ran out of energy to form them.

"Uppercut!" His father commanded.

Jauned ducked a swipe from the wooden braced and launched a fist into the edge of the bracer, a spiderweb of cracks covering the end.

John smiled as he backed away, "Fantastic job. Take five son."

Jaune panted and collapsed onto his ass as he wiped sweat off his forehead. He blinked as he saw a hand holding out a water bottle to him. He looked up at Lilly, his twin.

"Thanks Lils." He said gratefully, immediately downing a third of the bottle.

She smiled and sat down next to him, "It's fine, you've really gotten strong. I bet girls will be swooning at the sight of you in the city with all those muscles you've been growing."

Jaune chuckled dryly but the mirth in the sound was real; he quickly lay down so he could rest his head on his sister's lap, "I doubt it, all they'll see is some country bumpkin from the outskirts."

His sister laughed and ran a hand through his hair, "Well then, they are all blind."

Inwardly, she frowned at Jaune's constant put-downs on himself. He was an amazing person and an even better brother. But whenever he was complimented, his expression twisted into something bitter for just a split-second before his good cheer returned.

He smiled and let his eyes slide closed as Lilly continued to stroke his head, fingers carding through his hair.

'I will protect everyone, I never want to lose them again.' He thought. 'I don't want to lose this feeling ever again.'

He loved all of his family fiercely, but Lilly was his twin. They shared a special bond because of that, she had always been incredibly protective of him, just as much as he was of her. They had always been close, even in his previous life. His entire family was close-knit and caring. Despite his schedule, he would make time for his sisters, laughing with them and making sure they were as happy as could be.

Jia and Violet were actually several years older than he was, they were planning to become business owners and had taken a short sabbatical before jumping into the business scene, despite their... eccentric nature. Bianca was a year behind and had decided to work in the village, despite going to a hunter prep, she simply wanted to help protect the town in case of an emergency. She had a very easy-going outlook on life, and simply took what came to her. His mother and father were hunters but once every blue moon, things would get out of hand and grimm would come in hordes. Lilly was calm and collected, as well as born as his twin. She was brilliant and would always take a step away to look at a situation from every angle; aspiring to be a professor at a university.

Jaune played with the idea of introducing her to Glynda Goodwitch or Oobleck.

His youngest sister actually hadn't been born yet, and to be honest he had no idea whether or not his decision to go to Signal would actually affect his parents conceiving another kid.

He rather doubted it, they were much too active for his tastes, especially since his house was not exactly soundproofed and he was prone to wake up at any tiny noise that wasn't natural.

'Shove in earphones, block out world.' He thought exasperatedly.

Jaune was dozing off when suddenly two weights descended on his stomach without warning and pushed the air out of his diaphragm in a loud whoosh.

Ah, yes...

Joanna and Jean.

Troublemakers and rambunctious as a playful pup.

He gathered them up, one under each arm and gave them a playful glare, "What did I tell you two about doing that? I think you need punishment!"

He began to tickle them and Lilly retreated with a soft giggle as they shrieked with laughter. They squirmed and wriggle until they were both bright red from breathless laughter. He stopped and hugged them close, and their arms wrapped around him before they stiffened.

"You're all sweaty!" Jean whined.

Jaune chuckled as he grinned, "Glad you noticed! Now you're both all sweaty!"

"Ewww!" Joanna complained.

Jaune laughed.

* * *

Jaune sat up on his side of bed as Lilly slept in it, gently petting her head. To be honest, ever since the school year had ended, his sisters had been cozying up with him alot more than usual.

He knew why.

He was leaving before Signal's school term started, after that he would have to start pushing himself harder and finding ways to train while not letting anyone know.

He wouldn't be able to stay here.

He closed his eyes and let his grimm focus on the feel of each of his family members' aura. He memorized it until he made sure that he would never forget it.

He hadn't been able to do that the first time around, he hadn't gotten word of the attack on his hometown until it had been far too late.

When he had seen his house decimated and the remains of his family...

He took a shaking breath before he forcibly shunted the image from his head, it would never happen again.

He wouldn't let it.

He had contemplated the idea of holding back on his training to spend a more time with his family. He wanted to make sure that he could squeeze as much time as he could before heading off to Signal. He knew he would get summer and winter breaks, but he was still debating whether or not to put his Summer break into the future.

He had to make sure of a few things.

* * *

It had taken some time but it was well worth it to him.

A few notes drifted out from his guitar as he gently strummed the strings, he hadn't touched a guitar in sometime and so a bit of rust was expected. He kept playing until finally he felt as though he had once again reached his previous level of skill. With that in mind, Jaune began to play one of his favorite melodies and let himself get swept up in the song as he played. He hadn't initially planned to play ever again, but when his sisters bought him a guitar and showed how excited they were to see him play it...

Well, he simply didn't have it in him to refuse.

His sisters all sat on the grass in front of him as he played, listening attentively.

When he played the final few notes, he glanced up at his audience, "Was that good enough?"

His sisters cheered and applauded as he smiled.

"When'd you get so good?" His mother asked as she hugged him, "I never saw you practice."

Jaune smiled sheepishly, "Well, I went out into the forest and practiced with some videos until I felt confident enough to learn some songs. After that, more practice until I cold play them off the top of my head. I mean, training to be a hunter is all well and good, but even I need downtime from that."

His mother seemed satisfied with that.

* * *

Jaune sighed as he brushed the leftover twigs and dirt out of his hair. To be honest, hiding from his father and mother wasn't exactly easy, but using the shadows made the process of getting outside considerably easier. Just a quick twist of his will and shadows would swallow him whole, and he could move through them silent as grave. That in of itself was all well and good until the shadows unceremoniously spat him out in a heap in the yard.

Still needed to perfect that, his movement wasn't as refined as it used to be.

After a brief jog, he made his way a bit deeper than usual into the forest, enough so that his father and/or mother would never look here if they woke up.

He covered his hand with bone and sank his gauntlet into the dirt.

A small spire of bone shot out of the ground and Jaune unsheathed Crocea Mors before coating the edge in flame and quickly slicing through the base. The bones tipped over and Jaune caught it with the shadows silently, and set it down on it's side. He pulled out a few torn and worn shirts from when he was a kid and set them on top of the spire. He dismissed his ancestral blade from his side.

"Now... lets craft with it..." He murmured.

He placed his hands on the cloth and bone and grey wisps of energy began to flow into the item. The slab of bone (and Jaune paused at the thought of crafting with actual grimm bone and what he could make) began to warp as the cloth twisted. Soon, Jaune was left with a pair of gauntlets similar to the ones he had gotten forged for him from Pyrrha's armor. He slipped them on and flexed his fingers, testing the motion, making sure the gauntlets didn't cause any friction or hamper his movements. Satisfied with that, he carefully strode over to a tree and punched it.

A loud crack echoed and splinters flew as the part of the tree he hit practically exploded while his gauntlet didn't receive any backlash damage.

Not even a mark.

"Perfect." He smirked.

He walked back to the last item he crafted, a sword.

To be specific, a bone Gladius.

Black cloth wrapped around the handle and In all honesty, it looked more like a weapon made of ivory rather than bone.

However there was the etching.

Deep and violent red - like crusting blood - the archaic symbols carved into the blade of the weapon pulsed with was undoubtedly dark energy.

Jaune sighed, "Okay... let's see what we can do about that..."

It wasn't uncommon for red to be a color on a weapon, he knew that, but any grimm would dissipate after it was killed, and if the sword mad of grimm bone didn't... well, it wouldn't be good or easy to exlpain. Jaune knew he could play it off as ivory, but the texture was just wrong so if somone asked to check it out... He couldn't make an excuse about how he gathered grim bone, and he could say animal bone but it wouldn't be enough of an explanation for the red etching. So, with that in mind, he took the blade in his hand and gently pulsed his aura through the blade. Grey filigree marks crawled up the handle and interlaced with the red markings.

The red mark visibly flared as thought trying to resist the aura, but it was crafted from Jaune's power, it was his.

So he suppressed the dark energy and layered his aura on top.

The marks now shimmered a bright silver, not quite white, not quite grey.

Jaune smiled before taking a deep breath and took his stance.

And Jaune danced.

His blade was nothing more than streak of white that flashed in the night as he parried imaginary opponents and struck at the stretching shadows. He went through each attack he knew, every twist of his hand, flick of his wrist, every last motion. When he finally felt at ease with the blade he waved his hand at the darkness that enveloped the trees. The darkness writhed and twisted and a figure formed in the dark. It walked towards Jaune and as it entered the clearing, the moonlight made it visible.

Piece by piece, bit of bone by bit of bone, light gleamed of the overlapping bone scales that covered its form, all arranged to look like some scaled armor. Wisps of darkness drifted out of the small gaps in its armor, all of which soon were covered by bone of covered by the shifting scales. The darkness of the area seemed to cling to it, as though refusing to let it escape its cool embrace. It strode into the clearing and Jaune turned to face it, shifting his gladius in front of him.

Jaune tilted his head observing the form of his shadow.

The shadow remained still.

It kicked off the ground and two bone forearm blades jutted out of its arm. Jaune brought up his gladius they clashed with a loud crack. Jaune would have been worried about the sound but he had made sure he had gone far enough out so he wouldn't be observed.

They battled across the clearing, weaving in between each other blows and striking as much as possible. Jaune blocked a slashed and backpedaled as the shadow pressed forward. Jaune bent under a blow at his head and hopped in place, twisting just over a slash that would have split open his abdomen had it connected. As he was in the air, his hand lashed out and carved a divot out of the chest plate of the shadow he was fighting. It stumbled back but Jaune refused to relent, pressing his offense and scoring more and more blows.

His blade was finally caught by a cross-block the monster's forearm blades.

Black wisps of aura drifted out of the shadow's numerous marks. The shadow twisted the block so Jaune's blade was held off to the side and threw a slash at Jaune's head. Jaune's hand flashed up and caught the blade, filling the silence with the sound of screeching metal. Jaune's hand was glowing with grey light and Jaune grit his teeth as he held the blade away from his face. With a solid kick he knocked the shadow off of him and simultaneously used the kick as a launch to create some room.

He landed in a crouch and stood to his full height, "I think it's about time we finished, don't you agree?"

The shadow stayed silent, bone shifting to reform over the damaged areas.

Jaune tilted his head and looked to the side, exhaling through his nose and rolling his eyes, "Right, right. Forgot you don't exactly talk."

He exploded into a sprint, blade at his side in an icepick grip. The shadow launched a swift straight at Jaune's head, which would have impaled him. Jaune ducked under the blade, and slammed the pommel of his blade into the shadow's stomach. It bent forwards under the force of the blow and Jaune moved. He straightened, simultaneously flipping his grip on the handle of the blade. With a swift twist, his blade cut across the shadow's stomach and was brought down on the shadow's neck.

There was a soft thunk as the severed helm hit the floor and shattered into wisps of dark essence.

Jaune sighed as the body toppled and the dark essence of it's dissolving body promptly flowed into him.

He gripped the Gladius tightly and sighed, "I'll need a sheath and then I'll try to find a name for you..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Everyone please give a round of applause to Ghost Fire 6 for helping in the brainstorming of chapters and to be a fantastic person to bounce ideas with and being an awesome pal! Also special thanks to SabletKnight for Jaune's new sword's name! I loved the concept!**

 **I also would like to say all credit goes to the respective owners! (haven't been mentioning that as much as should, have I?)**

 **-YARN**

* * *

Jaune sighed as he zipped up his last duffel bag and placed it in the corner..

"My time's almost up..." he murmured.

Jaune sat on his bed before he leaned back on his palms and looked around the room that had been his home for the past few years of his second life.

It was painful.

he was leaving his family alone again, like he did before.

But so much earlier...

And that was downright terrifying.

Because he had been too late before (or would that be in the future?).

He never wanted to be late again.

With a melancholic sigh he flopped back onto his bed, "I can do this. I have to do this. I can't hesitate, or it will all be for nothing."

He placed his duffel bag in the corner with two other bags of clothing and necessities that he planned to take to Vale. It wasn't anything too important, his scroll had most of the paperwork done, as well as his schedule. He packed some clothes, a few photos, his guitar, and some of the knick-knacks he had acquired and hadn't wanted to part with. He shifted slightly and looked down at his current clothing.

He had gone to the clearing and made a few more pairs of gauntlets and added some greaves to his ensemble before he left for Vale. His father had put him through his paces and had intensified his training until this last week, claiming that now he had learned all he could and he needed time to relax.

The problem with that was Jaune couldn't stop worrying about the future, and therefore was a nervous wreck. And if that wasn't enough, his sisters had also been tugging him around and trying to spend as much time with him as much as humanly possible. By the end of the day, Jaune would collapse, wondering exactly how in the world did scampering about with his sisters end up being more draining than training.

But the real challenge was still there.

Seeing Yang.

All in all he had agonized over that enough on his own. He wasn't familiar with Yang as a fourteen year old. He didn't know whether or not she had the same confidence or would she be shy.

A shy Yang?

He couldn't imagine it.

Then there was the possibility of meeting Ruby, which was also another category of stress all on it's own; according to Yang she was practically Yang's shadow back at Signal. That wasn't exactly a problem though, Ruby had been a bit shy, so imagining her sticking that close to Yang and being reticent was something he could deal with. Still, seeing her would hurt, seeing anyone he recognized would hurt.

He missed all of his friends but he was alone in a way he never could have anticipated.

"Guah!" He exclaimed, flinging up his arms in agitation, "Why am I making this so hard? I just need to not think about it!"

He let his arms limply fall back onto the bed as he sighed.

A knock sounded at the door and he looked at the door, "Yeah?"

His mother walked in, "Your father and I need to talk to you."

Jaune blinked, "Okay, I'll come down rig-"

His father walked in and leaned against the door after his mother entered. His mother walked over and sat next to the window.

Jaune looked at them, puzzled, "Is something up?"

His father shook his head, "No, but this is an important conversation, and since you will be leaving soon, we figured it would be best to give this to you now so you won't have to call and we won't have to explain over a call."

Jaune shrugged, but something was ringing alarm bells rather loudly in the back of his head, "Alright?"

"Now Jaune," his mother said in a very parental manner, "You are past that age where girls will become something beyond simple friends or even best friends."

Jaune's face paled from healthy to pale to somewhere near exhumed-grey-corpse-fresh-from-the-coffin in color.

"This is perfectly natural and so I can understand if you are wondering why girls are suddenly much more... interesting." His mother continued, oblivious to the utter horror and dismay beginning to form on his face.

Oh dear Monty, no, this cannot be happening.

"Your father felt this wasn't important to mention just yet but frankly I disagreed and thought it would be prudent to have this discussion with you now." His mother finished her intro, giving him what should have been a comforting look until she notice his face.

He was NOT about to receive THE TALK.

"Oh no, please tell me you aren't going to give me the talk!" Jaune yelped, slapping his hands over his ears, "I know all about it, please I don't want to hear it! I don't want to listen! A la la la la la la!"

He already had it, and Jaune had no desire to relive the experience. For a young teen who had begun to find girls interesting, Jaune had wanted to know why he was suddenly so interested in girls after the whole 'cooties' phase and decided - with an infinite amount of remorse and regret in hindsight - to ask the two most knowledge people he knew.

His parents.

It took a grand total of two minutes of his mother explaining before Jaune was horrified and mentally scarred. He may have been thirty-something (if he was going to be counting his death and time-travel/revival ages alongside his years in this new life), but that did not mean he was any less uncomfortable about his parents talking about their... activities... which his mother tended to ramble about when she got lost in the memories (his father looking uncomfortable on the side and having to gently nudge her back on track if she trailed off [which she tended to do way too much]).

John gave him a half-relieved, half-bemused look, "Okay! So glad we don't have to have that conversation!"

His mother gave his father a sharp look, "John, he needs to know, other he won't understand why he feels the way he does!"

Jaune had stopped "la'ing" by this point and quickly made sure his parents knew he knew, "I know about hormones and sexual intercourse! I really don't need any details from you guys!"

He had rather forcibly reacquainted with his hormones when his team had had a group hug after their team won a soccer match and Jaune felt his friend Elaine's... slightly developed form press flush against his back and her arms lock around his neck. He shivered in response and uncomfortably fidgeted under her embrace and she gave him a look.

"Is something wrong?" She had queried.

"No! Not at all! Everything is totally okay!" Jaune squeaked in response.

Thankfully, no one else noticed a thing; however, Jaune had groaned as he realized all the hell he was about to experience.

A healthy, growing, hormone-riddled teen about to be surrounded by decently attractive - if he was going to relate to Yang and Ruby as benchmarks - young women in an unfamiliar city.

And voice cracking.

Dammit.

* * *

"Man..." Jaune groaned as he sat on the couch, "That was way to close for comfort..."

"What's wrong Jaune?" Lilly inquired as she sat next to him.

He smiled weakly, "Nothing, it doesn't matter."

At Lilly's unconvinced look, he amended, "Just Mom and Dad giving me a... grown-up talk."

Lilly rolled her eyes and snuggled into his side, "It's just the talk, don't be so melodramatic."

Jaune sighed and put an arm around her shoulders before resting his cheek on her head, "You got our sisters to talk with, Mom tends to ramble about... Dad's prowess for a bit before getting back on track and if that isn't enough, she tends to do that a lot during the conversation."

Lilly jerked, "Seriously?"

Jaune's silence was enough of an answer for his sister to shiver in disgust.

"My condolences." She apologized.

* * *

Jaune faced the road where a car waited to take him to the nearest airport. He checked that his newly christened Nigredo was safely holstered in a leather sheath on his back and that Crocea Mors was at his side.

He didn't want to look back at his family, all of whom had looks ranging from melacholy to outright sorrow.

He didn't want to hear the sniffles from Joanna and Jean as they struggled not to cry.

But Jaune wasn't a coward (most days) so he turned and knelt so he was eye level with his youngest sisters. He spread his arms in an open invitation.

He was immediately rushed by the two forms of his youngest sisters, who had lost their battles with restraint and sobbed into his shoulders. He tucked them into a tight hug to muffle their pleas of him not leaving and staying with them.

"Hey now..." he murmured, stroking their heads, "I'll be back soon, before you even know it, okay?"

"Promise?" Jean sniffled.

"Promise." He replied, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"You won't forget about us?" Joanna whimpered.

"Not even Monty could make me forget my family." He replied, pressing her a kiss to her temple.

He stood straight and hugged his sisters, kissed his mother's cheek, and hugged his dad.

"You'd better be the best in class." His father warned.

"I'll be better than the best." Jaune said.

With a wave at his friends and a nod at the town mayor, he got into the car.

"You ready, kid?" The driver said.

Jaune took a deep breath, "Yeah..."

"I'm ready."

* * *

"I'm so not ready..." He groaned, stomach rumbling unpleasantly.

Jaune had forgotten how much air travel upset him. When it came to flying on his wings, he could do that pretty easily and without any adverse effects, but it's like Monty just made these goddamn contraptions and motion sickness to screw with him. He sat on his seat and carefully tried to regulate his breathing while closing his eyes. It helped slightly and his stomach stopped 'I-am-about-to-do-your-Yang-given-nickname-proud' rumbling to more of an annoying 'this-is-uncomfortable' rumbling. Jaune sighed and tried to calm his stomach a bit more through sheer force of will.

Needless to say, it didn't work nearly as well as closing his eyes.

After an annoyingly uncomfortable fight, Jaune staggered off the dustplane with his bags slung over his shoulder. He found a bench and took a moment for his stomach to settle in his abdomen before exhaling and getting up. He began walking to an address he scouted out a fair while before coming. There was an apartment that was up for rent and was within a reasonable distance to Signal, the rate was a lot cheaper than he thought and while Jaune's family wasn't short on money as his father was still a on-call hunter as well as patrolling the barriers that surrounded Dorme - Not to mention his mother was pretty heavily invested in stocks and had always been smart about what to pick - the more money he saved now, the better it would be for him in the long run.

Either way, he walked until he made it to the right address and walked into the building. He looked around and walked over to the counter where n the other side a older teen girl was shuffling through some papers.

"Excuse me?" He inquired.

She turned to him and blinked before smiling at him, "Yes?"

"My name is Jaune Arc, I believed that I had contacted this building about an apartment?" Jaune said, opening his scroll and opening his messages.

She nodded, "Just give me a moment to check it out."

She turned to her computer for a moment after typing on her keyboard.

"Here it is." She said, "Your on the ground floor, room 107. It's a two bedroom room, meant for two people."

Jaune frowned, "Isn't there a one bedroom apartment available?"

She pursed her lips as she typed into the computer before shaking her head, "No... only two-bedroom apartments."

"Then why was the rent so low?" He queried, "I mean for a two bedroom -"

"You share the rent with your roommate." She replied, "Didn't you know that? It's listed on the site."

Jaune facepalmed, he forgotten to read the housing terms, "Dammit."

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath and knocked on the door, "Hello?"

After a couple of second, the door was pulled open and a young man opened the door. He had dirty blond hair that hung down to just past his eyebrows, dark grey eyes, and somewhat average features.

He smiled as he noticed Jaune's bags and grinned openly, "Yo! You must be my roommate! Welcome!"

Jaune blinked at his exuberence, "Uh, thanks."

He moved into the room and noticed that wasn't too small, enough for two people to live rather comfortably in. He looked around and saw that there was a couch, a TV, and a small kitchen. Two rooms loomed in the distance and one's door was open and there seemed to be a whole bunch of posters on one room, so Jaune used reasoning to determine -

"The room on the right's mine, you need anything don't hesitate to ask!" He said, gesturing at the rooms, "The left room's bare except for the bed and table, so you can move in that one. Also they each have their own bathrooms and door locks, so don't worry about privacy!"

Jaune nodded, "Right, thanks."

He smiled and held out his hand, "I am David Ashe, pleasure to meet you!"

Jaune shrugged a bag more securely over his shoulder and shook his hand, "Jaune Arc, likewise."

* * *

Jaune sighed as he sat on his new bed, his room was now decorated, though that may have been a bit of an overstatement. He didn't bring alot that would have personalized his room, a picture of his family on his bedside, a few of his favorite books - comics or otherwise - in one of the drawers, and lastly a polishing kit for his blade. His guitar lay against he far wall in the corner as well as a 'dusting brush' (as Jaune dubbed it) and polish for it as well. The rest of he various odd and ends are still in his suitcase and could be unpacked later.

"So this'll be home for the next four years?" He murmured as he flopped back and threw an arm over his eyes.

It's unfamiliar and the distinct lack of his family makes everything seem...

Lonely.

Jaune rolled onto his front and stared at the headboard an inch from his nose, focusing on the upcoming events that will define his life from here and up.

In three days he has an exam to pass and he needs to pass it.

He doesn't want to cheat his way into Beacon so he needs to be enrolled in a combat school.

But that doesn't mean not seeing his family will be easy.

Jaune pushed his face into the pillow and muffled his groan of unease.

'This is for all of them. I swear.' He promised himself, 'I won't lose them because I was weak like before.'

* * *

"Jaune Arc." One of the men said, "You have a desire to join Signal Academy, correct?"

"Yes." Jaune replied, eyes focused and back straight.

He would have replied with 'Yeah' but it would have been a bad move, showing a flippant disregard for the serious situation.

One of the men leaned forward on his elbows and simultaneously scooted back in his chair a bit, "Do you understand the path you are about to walk on? The life of a hunter is often fraught with danger and destruction, every single time you leave for a mission, you have the possibility of not coming home and leaving those who you love behind."

"Yes."

A small spark of agitation burned in his chest. He knew exactly what was at risk, how high the stakes were. More than anyone else in his age group. He lost a love, a family, almost lost his humanity, and so much more. He knew what risks he would be taking, but he didn't dare let those memories throw him off kilter. Getting angry at this man for even questioning that wasn't going to be helpful, besides, the man had no way of knowing how Jaune had suffered.

"Are you ready for the test?"

"I am."

"You will first spar against one of the volunteers who we've had standing by, just to see what level you are at. Give him everything you have to throw at him. He can take it. Then if you pass that, you will be tested on what you know of grimm." a man said as he rose form his seat.

Jaune nodded and got up as well, "Can I assume that doing the mental test after a strenuous physical is to see whether or not I can still a decent amount of mental capability to solve educational conundrums after being put through sparring in this combat school?"

The man paused, and a smirk twitched the corner of his mouth, "I actually never thought of it like that. You're an interesting young man."

Jaune raised an eyebrow as he followed the man, "Good interesting or bad interesting?"

The man smirked, "That's something that's still up for debate. As for now? Just do your best."

Jaune nodded, "So who exactly am I going to be sparring against? Will it be a student?"

"Actually you'll be fighting an instructor."

Jaune stopped dead in his tracks, "Pardon? You mean a teacher at Signal Academy? As in a fully-fledged huntsman with experience and skill?"

"Yes."

Jaune paled.

'I'm dead aren't I?' he thought despairingly.

They walked into a large training arena and Jaune took a deep breath, he just had to try his best and not die. He was under no delusions, as a fourteen year-old he had no chance of winning, no matter how much he trained. His body and/or skills simply weren't strong enough to beat anyone who was older and stronger and had been in the hunting business. He was still working to develop his muscles and power, not to mention his body meant his strides were short and his speed was crippled. He was leagues stronger then the time Pyrrha had passed away in his old life, but he was no match for a genuine hunter. He had experience and would probably be a step above most hunters/huntresses-in-training, but most of his battle experience was as a sub-par fighter and a decently trained fourteen year old hopeful.

He was knocked out of his thoughts by a chuckle.

"Oh. So this is the hopeful newbie who you want me to crush?" A familiar voice called.

Jaune's eyes widened comically as he saw the hunter he would he facing.

"Oh Lord Monty, no..." Jaune whimpered inaudibly.

Qrow Branwen stood at the edge of the arena, arms crossed under his chin as he was casually resting his upper body on the hilt of his sword/scythe stabbed into the ground. Qrow straightened from his slouched position and took a swig from his hip-flask. When he lowered the flask, a cocky smirk played on his lips. He gripped his sword and yanked it from the earth and spun it before hefting it on his shoulder in a lazy one-handed grip.

"So, kid? You ready?" Qrow called.

Jaune inwardly sobbed.


	9. Chapter 9

**I mean to get this out on Christmas but only just finished it...**

 **Oh well.**

 **Respective credit to repective owners!**

 **-Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath before unfold Crocea Mors and strode forward until he was a dozen yards from Qrow. He raised his shield in front of him and positioned his sword horizontally and a foot away from his chest. He knew didn't have a prayer or one percent chance to win, even if Qrow was severely underestimating him and only putting a touch of his usual strength behind his strikes. Jaune had to give it his best shot, and simply hope that was enough.

That being said Jaune simply stood in his ready stance, watching Qrow, who raised an eyebrow.

Any fighter knew rushing a superior foe was a fool's mistake and should only be done if you want to lose.

A smirk flitted over Qrow's face, interest sparking in his eyes for a split second.

And then he moved, running at Jaune with ridiculous speed, and that wasn't even his freaking semblance.

At least Jaune didn't think it was a part of his crow transformation semblance.

Jaune flipped his sword into a reverse grip and spun, just barely catching the edge of Qrow's blade on Crocea Mors' blade. Sparks flew but Jaune didn't bother struggling to push the entire attack off. Twisting while pushing, he shifted to the side just enough that the massive blade would slip past him to miss his body and give him a window. He threw a jab with his shield and Qrow - still using one hand while the other was in his pocket, for Monty's sake, this guy was a monster - lifted and twisted his sword slightly and caught the blow against the flat side of his weapon. Jaune pushed off the weapon and back-pedaled flipping his sword back into a hammer grip.

Qrow followed, throwing slashes and strikes at Jaune, who was thanking Monty for adding his greaves and gauntlets to his ensemble as they considerably blunted the force behind some blows he had to take on his arms and legs. Jaune ducked away from one slash only to grimace and grit his teeth as he lifted his forearm to block Qrow's leg from nailing him in the face. Qrow simply pushed a bit harder and Jaune was forced to roll to the side as Qrow's blade stabbed right into floor where his torso would have been.

Jaune rose with a slash at Qrow's stomach but was easily parried and Qrow riposted with a thrust at Jaune's head. Jaune raised his shield and ducked, the blow scraping against his ancestral weapon as he slammed the pommel of his sword into Qrow's abdomen with his sword. Qrow huffed - with amusement as if Jaune was a puppy barking full grown beowulf - before his knee came up and caught Jaune in the face. Jaune recoiled and stumbled, and was sent tumbling back as Qrow hit him with an uppercut from his free hand. Jaune moved with the momentum and used his hands to launch himself up and onto his haunches.

"Not bad kid." Qrow chuckled.

Jaune stabbed his sword into the ground and pushed himself up. Qrow's aura prevented any damage and - goddammit - not even his clothes look particularly ruffled. Granted, Jaune's aura was doing the same, but the blows still stung a fair bit. Jaune closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he exhaled slowly, and just a touch of his dark half leaked past his walls, subtly reinforcing his muscles and bones. His eyes flashed red behind his closed eyelids before fading into a blue with a faint hint of violet. Jaune opened his eyes and sheathed his shield before pulling out Nigredo from it's leather sheath.

Normally, Using this amount of power wasn't going to make any difference in the outcome - Jaune was still going to lose, and probably horribly - but it would make him last just that much longer and help even the odds a slight bit. Qrow was moving and Jaune did his best to weave through and slip past the assault. Jaune had been dancing to Qrow's rhythm and decided that he should at least try to throw the battle out of Qrow's tempo. Whatever blows he couldn't completely avoid he took on his armored bits on let graze him rather than force his aura to compensate for serious damage.

Cost and value and all that, Jaune could rather easily repair and reinforce his armor at home in his room, replenishing his aura - especially mid-battle - wasn't nearly as easy.

Jaune stepped in close and began his own counter attack. One thing he tended to notice was that larger weapons were moderately more troublesome to wield at closer quarter combat. Qrow's sword/scythe could be considered a Zweihander in regards to size, so Jaune's smaller swords - as well as stature - would give him the edge in maneuverability in CQC. Jaune began to push as hard as he could, lashing out with Crocea Mors and Nigredo. Jaune slashed down at Qrow's head and Qrow blocked the slash with his blade by holding it up. Twisting with the momentum of his strike, Jaune heaved himself up and stabbed downward with Crocea Mor's blade, but Qrow stepped forward while twisting to his side, leaving Jaune's blade slicing through empty air. Jaune landed and launched himself at the hunter, trying to score a blow that would at least scrape more than half a percent off the hunter's aura. Jaune moved in just a bit too close and Qrow smirked as he jumped out of the way of one slash and back to a more comfortable range. Jaune pursed but every time he got a little too close for Qrow's sword, Qrow simply slipped out of reach.

"Fuck." Jaune muttered under his breath, taking a moment to exhale an irritated breath,"I'm being stupidly single-minded."

He ducked away from a blow and slashed another to the side in order to direct the blade away and leap out of range.

He should have known some of Qrow's previous opponents would have tried the same thing. In a relatively open space like this, Qrow would have no problem dealing with any sort of charge Jaune mounted. He could just keep moving back or slipping to the side as necessary. Once again, Jaune was simply not fast enough to close in on Qrow, and even he did manage in incredibly close corner quarter combat, Qrow still had a free hand and probably knew how to deal with someone that would try to use a close proximity to an advantage. For all that Jaune had practiced outmaneuvering and parrying, Qrow just had so many more options and outclassed him in so many ways - again not mentioning the experience and skill to draw from - that Jaune had no way to outdo him.

Jaune's instincts screamed and he was moving back before he could fully compensated for his lack of awareness. He barely raised his swords in a cross-block as Qrow's blade slammed into him and sent him tumbling back. Cursing, Jaune rolled onto his hands and knees and kicked off to the side just as a slash gouged out the ground where he would have rolled to. Qrow didn't dither and was on Jaune in an instant, bearing down on him with all the relentless power of a storm. Jaune barely managed to sheathe Nigredo and unfold his shield before he was caught in a flurry of strikes and began defending of all his worth. He diverted a heavy slash and tried to move out of Qrow's path, but the hunter didn't let up. A heavy knee dug into his stomach and as he folded over Qrow brought the hilt of his weapon down on Jaune's head. Jaune slammed into the floor, vision swimming from the impact and thoughts disjointed. His instincts took over and he rolled to the side to try to escape but Qrow simply swung his sword in an upward arc and Jaune was sent sliding back as he awkward blocked the blow from his prone position.

Bit by bit, Jaune was sustaining more blows and was forced to give ground as he desperately tried to divert most of the damage off. An elbow impacted his side, a slash nicked his cheek, a uppercut snapped his head back and those were just some of the many blows he'd taken. He ducked away from a slash and lifted his shield in time to catch a kick from Qrow that sent him sliding back. He flipped Crocea Mors' blade into an icepick grip and stabbed it into the ground. His aura rushed through Crocea Mors - and with a small trick Jaune had practiced with back at home- his semblance immediately flooded the floor and made a collection of spears which Jaune flung out towards Qrow by slashing up in the hunter's direction. The hunter ducked and weaved around the sharp barbs of the spears while he brought his sword around to deflect whichever points got a bit too close to evade.

Jaune used the brief moment of respite to sheathe Crocea Mors and pull out his bow, running as fast as he could. His aura had been whittled none too gently and he gauged himself at about 69.8% of his aura, even with his massive reserves and grimm compensating for some power. That was a large amount of aura used even for him, on practically anyone else with a DECENT amount of aura they probably be hovering in the low 50% or high 40% by now. Qrow's blows had been punishing and while Jaune's aura had been repairing the damage and numbing the pain, the points of impacted were still notably uncomfortable. Qrow was holding back a great deal of power but that didn't mean he was going to let Jaune get away with only minor damage and a few scrapes. He slapped a hand to the ground and with a flash of aura, pulled out a handful of arrows made out of the floor thanks to his semblance. He notched an arrow and began to shoot them as fast as he could.

Thank Monty he practiced crafting when moving and firing while moving as well.

Qrow slashed his sword with deft movements, and arrows were swiped out of the air and clattered uselessly to the floor. The buckshot of spears didn't even make the man blink, so he had to try another option. Jaune slipped a hand into his pouch and pulled out three dust crystals. Jaune crafted them into his arrows and notched the elemental arrows simultaneously and fired as they arched towards Qrow, who simply brought his blade around in a wide arc to intercept them.

Jaune dared to hope.

The moment Qrow touched the first one with his blade, it detonated in a burst of flame, which promptly set off the second one in a burst of electricity and the third in a wave of frost. Jaune didn't wait to see if they had made Qrow pause and created another bunch of arrows before rapidly launching them into the small cloud of smoke made by the explosions. He backed away slowly as he fired, giving himself more room to maneuver if Qrow burst out of the cloud blade swinging. When he finally stopped firing he waited, an arrow notched in his bow even if was pointed at the floor.

There was a whoosh of displaced air as Qrow swung his blade and pushed the cloud of smoke away. Jaune stared at the older hunter who stood there unhurt and surrounded by bent and broken arrows as he casually rested his sword on his shoulder once again. Jaune locked a frustrated growl behind his teeth as the small sliver of hope was squashed under the boot heel of reality. Sure, he knew he wasn't going to win, and yeah the gap in power was just about as big as expected (if not bigger), but COME ON. There just wasn't anyway to gain any ground. No matter what plan Jaune thought of, he knew Qrow had the means to counter it, and that wasn't even if he used his Scythe, which would only result in Jaune having his ass handed to him about a hundred times harder.

Jaune inhaled a large breath before he collapsed his bow and sighed, letting the notched arrow drop to the floor. He firmly sealed back the small leak in his dark power and closed his eyes as they receded back to the ocean blue they naturally were. He supposed it was just like him to overestimate himself and get frustrated easily, there was no point in continuing this fight. Qrow would crush him if he used any more skill and Jaune had no desire to spend his next few days in the ICU when Qrow got bored of playing with him.

He dropped to his knees and held his hands up in formal surrender, "I give. I lose."

Qrow blinked and stabbed his sword into the floor to lean against it casually, "Really? You don't want to keep going?"

Jaune dropped his hands and shrugged, "What would be the point? I already knew I couldn't win. You're faster, stronger, more skilled, you've probably seen every disadvantage you could have ever had and worked to cover it. And that's just a given with someone of your experience, you probably seen enough of my style by now to counter it effectively if the fight continued, there just now way to even really hurt you as I am now, let alone win. You weren't pushing me particularly hard because even a half-hearted assault would still be more than enough to take me out whenever you wanted." Jaune looked up at Qrow, a grim look of determination flashing in his eyes, "A hunter needs to know when to give, they aren't infallible, they make errors. Hunters ususally die because of that, they make mistakes, just don't think enough when they fight, or find themselves in a choice that is really nothing but bad choices and worse ones to pick. To me, being a hunter isn't about making the bad guys lose, it's about making sure they don't win on their terms or get what they want."

Silence followed the brief speech while the hunter and the boy stared at each other.

Qrow blinked and suddenly began to laugh, it wasn't mocking or even rude. It was surprised with a hint of plain interest. Qrow raised a hand to cover his eyes and finally his laugh died into a chuckle before he strode over to Jaune. He held out a hand and hauled Jaune to his feet.

"Kid... I have fought alot of people and grimm. Hundreds, probably thousands. Many of the people wouldn't give up until they were knocked out. Some did give up, but never like that. They were frustrated when they couldn't win and some gave up because of they didn't want to be humiliated. You gave up only after giving everything you got and then told me that you already knew you were going to lose anyway? You're a strange kid, and don't worry, I mean that as a compliment. You got a good head and a strong heart, kid. I don't know about whoever else makes the choice, but I hope I see you at Signal kid, be a shame to give up on a kid like you."

Jaune blinked and smiled, "Thanks. Oh, and my name's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

Qrow smirk, not a smirk of cocky attitude but a small smirk of acknowledgement, "Jaune Arc? I'll remember that. See you later kid."

With that, he waved his flask and took a swig as he stepped into a hallway.

* * *

"So what do you think of him?" One of the instructors asked Qrow.

"I like 'im." Qrow replied, "He's a decent fighter already, knows his limits and when a situation's too far gone to be saved. He didn't scoff and underestimate me for drinking and stayed focused and thought about all the moves he could make before trying them. Not long enough for a enemy to capitalize on it, but enough for him to set an attack in motion. He's pretty mature and has a pretty spot on perception of how life can be for a hunter. He's got potential to go a very long way, I vote we keep him."

There was a general murmur of assent that rippled through the observers of the fight.

Qrow took another swig of his flask, but his eyes seemed lost in speculation as he turned over the one observation he hadn't divulged.

However it was troubling.

'I wonder what exactly that kid has gone through to give him such old eyes...' Qrow mused.

He hummed a thoughtful note as the other instructors dicussed.

* * *

Jaune sighed as he sat at desk with a few papers laid out in front of him. He dropped his pencil and took a moment to lean back and stretched. Simple analysis of certain historical events, a few tactical exercises, things that were show Jaune's ability to think quickly and plan out a strategy.

This intelligence assessment was absolutely freaking boring.

It had a few bonus questions on Grimm and what were the easiest to kill.

Jaune frowned when he read that, the textbook answer was probably a creep or beowulf, but in all honesty, how long a creature had survived merited its danger; a juvenile nevermore was a far easier foe than a seasoned creep or beowulf, even if the nevermore hadn't reached full-sized black flying monstrosity of death and razor feather barrages. But this wasn't the thought of a hopeful trying to get into an academy, it was the thought of a hunter who had full well seen the effects of age on Grimm.

He had to play the part.

He finished looking over his work and deemed it adequate enough and stacked it in order.

"I'm done." He called.

* * *

Jaune had made his way out of the classroom to see Qrow leaning against the wall of the classroom he was being tested in.

Qrow turned to him, "Hey kid. I needed to tell you something, thought you should know."

Jaune inwardly panicked, "Did I fail the combat test?"

Qrow blinked, then chuckled, "Oh no, nothing like that. I just forgot to mention who I was. My name's Qrow, Qrow Branwen. I figured I should tell you my name since you told me yours."

Jaune realized he hadn't technically heard Qrow's name until just now, he grinned in relief, "Well it's nice to meet you properly Mr. Branwen."

Qrow made a mildly disgruntled face, "That makes me sound so damn old..."

"Do you want me to call you something else?" Jaune offered.

"Nah, it doesn't matter all that much." Qrow said easily, all of my students call me that, so frankly I'm used to it."

Jaune nodded, "Okay."

"Want a tour?" Qrow offered, "I was going to go see my family for a while, but the guys who wanted to test you wanted me to be the one to show you around while playing school tour guide."

"Okay, it'd be good if I could remember where I am supposed to go when I need to." Jaune replied smiling.

* * *

Jaune knew Qrow was pretty awesome by virtue of being a kickass hunter and the one who taught Ruby everything she knew. Walking and talking with him though, gave Jaune a different aspect to look at. Jaune had never really been able to determine Qrow's personality, whether that was truly how he felt or whether he was putting up a front.

Confident and Calm was Qrow in a nutshell. His stance was relaxed and strides light, everything seemed to exude a aura of relaxed confidence. Even as the walked, Jaune could see how he was hyper-conscious (drunkeness aside) of everything around him, he smoothly slid by lockers and open doors, sometimes without looking. All the while, he held a conversation with Jaune and pointing out different parts of the school. It didn't take long and in about twenty-five minutes Jaune had a rough estimate of where everything was; they both stopped walking as they exited the building.

"Thanks." Jaune said gratefully, "I'll probably be set for the next few years."

Qrow smirked, "Sure kid. Anyway, I've got to go and meet with my nieces, I'll see you around."

Jaune nodded, "Alright, thanks again."

With that Qrow ambled down the street before turning a corner and moving out of sight. Jaune thought of Yang and Ruby as they were still children. His expression twisted in distaste as he realized he was the same age physically.

With a sigh, Jaune turned to regard Signal with determination.

"Just you wait." He murmured, "I'll save everyone. This is only the beginning."


	10. Chapter 10

**In all honesty, this chapter was a bit shorter than I would've liked, but honestly trying to extend it would have made it seem awkward and stuffed with filler, so I relented.**

 **Respective credit to respective owners!**

 **-YARN**

* * *

Qrow walked through the door of his brother-in-law's house, a grin already on his face as he spotted his two nieces who had been lounging in the living room.

"Uncle Qrow!" They chorused.

Hey knelt so he could hug them as they run up to him, "Hey there. How have my favorite girls been?"

"Awesome!" Yang said, "I can't wait to get started at Signal! Soon I'll be a Huntress and beat up all the bad guys!"

Qrow chuckled, "I'm sure. How about you Ruby?"

Ruby smiled eagerly at him, "I'm good, I want to go to Signal too! I bet I could do just as well as Yang!" She pouted, "But everyone I'm still too young."

Qrow ruffled her hair, "Don't worry, keep drinking your milk and you'll get big."

"Okay!" She said cheerfully.

Qrow stood up and saw Taiyang in the doorway smiling, "Hey Qrow."

"Hey Tai." Qrow replied.

Taiyang turned to Yang and Ruby, "Hey, can you two play in your rooms for now? Uncle Qrow and Daddy need to talk."

The two girls nodded and after a hug from their father, they scampered upstairs.

Qrow smiled softly, a touch of melancholy nostalgia coloring his expression, "They remind me of them... they look just like 'em in a way."

Taiyang smiled sadly, "Yeah... yeah they do." He shook his head, "Anyway, what's up, you gonna be going somewhere? What'd you want to talk about?"

Qrow meandered over to the couch before flopping onto it with little grace, "Well, I was thinking of taking a small sabbatical from all those assignments Ozpin has me doing, to be honest. I want to be there for Yang and Ruby, plus being on call... Well, I have been training Ruby with that scythe she made, and she's really come a long way from a beginner, the same can be said for Yang and learning how to fight. I wanted to up her training, but I can't do that effectively if I am called away half the time."

Taiyang smiled, "If you need a place to stay, you could just ask."

Qrow grinned at his brother-in-law, "I know."

* * *

Jaune sighed as he crossed another training area of the list, "Why does there need to be cameras everywhere? It would be so much easier if security wasn't such a massive concern."

It wasn't exactly hard for Jaune to find a place to practice hand-to-hand or even his weapon fighting, there were plenty of dojos and hunter gyms he could visit (hell he could even use the school arenas). But when he needed to train his grimm or shadows, where could he go? He was fairly certain that crafting wouldn't be an issue - he had already had that down - but working with his shadows and grimm needed to be done in private for obvious reasons. One, he didn't know anyone who had two semblances (which was really all he could call his shadows if he didn't want to spill the whole 'side-effect of having ancient grimm lady's blood injected in his veins and was probably still flowing in him in this new life' thing), so that in and of itself was notable (to a degree he didn't want found out, any anonymity he managed to keep could only be a good thing for now). He couldn't practice effectively in his room due to the lack of size and probably because practicing while anyone else was around would be catastrophic if they stumbled in on him.

He took a deep breath and held it for a beat before exhaling in a large 'whoosh'. It was getting dark and he needed to find a suitable area as soon as possible.

He slipped his hands in his pockets and began to walk down the street, "I need to find a place to practice that I can get to easily... Maybe the wilds...?"

He thought of his shadow semblance, and considered using that. It was doable - it would ave been pretty dangerous - but there was a problem that he had needed to work on while he was in Vale.

Aura consumption.

His shadow semblance was a bit of an aura eater, he struggled with his semblance in that he could use it, but he would need to fine tune it so he wouldn't recklessly spend aura. Usually, for a person with his inanely high amount of aura, it wouldn't be such a bad thing - to be honest - it could even be considered normal. Jaune however hated the problem with a passion.

He couldn't afford to waste any power, he couldn't be NORMAL. He had practiced with crafting, knowing just how much aura to pump into a construct before it could be considered unbreakable (or at least absurdly durable and nigh-impervious to damage), or how little so that it would be a decent weapon that wouldn't break too easily. Before he had perfected it, he had been hemorrhaging his aura in creating constructs, even if he hadn't meant to. He had practiced so that by the time he'd fought Qrow, he had been able to shoot decently strong arrows, Qrow had shattered them, but they weren't given enough aura to withstand his force anyway, he'd been aiming for quick shots that would hurt but wouldn't stand the test of strength. Hell, even the slight leak in control he had allowed for in his fight had been difficult to keep at that level.

However, instinctively KNOWING just how much aura to pump into a weapon took 3 whole years of testing and practicing (often in the dead of night), and that was after 3 whole years of training with his father on fighting skills where'd he be too exhausted to practice with his darker half; not to mention his father making him spend another year to practice with his holy elements to 'decent' standards (which thankfully covered his corrupted elements as well). So before he came to Vale to attend Signal, he had only one year of practicing and testing with his shadow semblance and Grimm (which made for about a half-year each). It did help, it really did; it just wasn't enough, not by a long shot. If Jaune wanted to save Pyrrha, Ruby, Yang, Ren, Nora, Weiss, Blake, and practically everyone, he needed to have as much power as possible. He couldn't afford to let even the slightest bit of power go to waste, otherwise he could fail.

And that wasn't an option.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he bumped into someone.

"Woah!" He yelped, "Sorry!"

The person he ran into turned to him with a scowl, "You blind? Huh, ya dumb bastard?"

Jaune's regret vanished and he frowned, "Look, I said I'm sorry. I was lost in thought."

The man snorted and Jaune picked up the smell of alcohol. He inwardly groaned, people were always problematic to deal with when drunk. Maybe this guy was simply buzzed and wouldn't be too much of a problem, if fact, Jaune decided he should just walk away before the situation escalated beyond a slight altercation in the street. In all honesty, he should've known that being out this late may have had him run into the odd person here and there.

His luck - terrible as always - ensured the person would have been drinking alcohol.

"I'm sorry, but I need to go." Jaune said quickly and began to walk away before a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

Jaune sighed, 'Goddamit.' he thought sourly.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" The man growled.

Jaune turned to the man, eyes flashing red, "Let go. Now."

The man recoiled as if burned, immediately backing away eyes wide.

Jaune turned to face him and let his grimm trickle into his voice and eyes, making his voice guttural and raspy and his eyes glow red, "Walk. Away."

The man turned and fled.

Jaune looked at the man until he ran out of sight before sighing and plugging up his dark power, "Nice to know I have enough control to simply intimidate people."

He scratched his cheek with a finger and looked around, "I suppose I'll have to make do with my room and small exercises as a test for now. I shouldn't be out so late."

* * *

Jaune idly watched the thin strands of shadow twine around his hands, he frowned at slight pull he could feel at his aura, he frowned as he forced them to move, he probably shouldn't have felt any drain on his reserves. However, the pull constantly ebbed and pulsed, it fluctuated from nonexistent to overpowered, lacking control or steady output. He made the shadows in the room dance from one end of the room to the other, hitting the wall with the force of a light breeze (he could battered down the wall with hardly a thought, but he figured the owners might not appreciate it as well as David being woken by plaster and his wall raining down on him by a rolling mass of shadows). Jaune yanked the shadows and spun and threw out a hand, the shadows following and lancing toward his imaginary target, stopping just sort of shooting through the wall.

Jaune stood for a moment, closing his eyes before he sighed, "No... It's no good, I need more room and I need to actually hit something..."

The shadows slithered back into their proper positions, once more hiding from the light and conforming to common sense. Jaune sighed and sat on the edge of his bed, trying to think of how to do this.

He sighed and grimaced, "I suppose I really don't have a lot of choices. Maybe I should have used fake transcripts like last time, Dorme was alot more lax in terms of security... I suppose I'll just have to make do in the wilds."

* * *

A Ursa lumbered through the forest, brushing past the thick brush. It looked up and saw a outcropping of white spires in a clearing and smelled a human nearby. As it neared the clearing and as it moved towards the spires, it suddenly tiwtched and went still. A feel of almost confusion flitted through its psyche as it felt several bone blades piercing through its body and stretching into the night. It collapsed and immediately began to melt away into oblivion. A bone clad figure sat in the middle of the clearing, hands sunken deep into the soil of the ground. All around it bone's of varying length had been jutting out of the ground and into the night.

Suddenly the bone armor that covered the figure cracked and shattered before it hit the floor and dissolved into motes of darkness.

Jaune sat there, sweat dripping down his face as he panted, chest heaving as tried to inhale the oxygen that seemed to be in short supply. He gritted his teeth as he yanked his hands out of the dirt before he flopped back from the force of the simple action. He lay flat on his back, eyes shut as he lay recovering from his exercises, his drained aura slowly beginning to recover. He had sat in the middle of the clearing covered in his bone armor, hands in the dirt; any time a grimm wandered close and was about to attack, he would form bone spires that would impale them. Manipulation of his grimm was probably the most difficult of his abilities as it constantly chafed at his control, but it would make all of his other abilities come that much easier.

He slowly stopped panting and sat up with a deep sigh. As nice as the idea sounded, it wouldn't do to take a nap; his bone spires were strong, but brute force could break them given enough time and power. This training was probably more dangerous than any other type he had ever tried, he was alone with no backup and was using powers he hadn't fully grasped. The wilds were called the wilds for a very good reason, they were untamed and full of grimm. Most hunters never wandered them, people like Maidens usually being exceptions as they were powerful enough to take on any grimm that attacked. He had to leave enough energy for him to travel back to the city, which - considering he wasn't fully trained - was a difficult task in and of itself.

He scowled as he thought of the Maidens, automatically thinking of Cinder and the murder of Amber. If only he had done his job and kept watch...

He was jolted out of his thoughts as growls erupted from the tree line, groaning as he realized beowolves had gotten close and realized he was there. He got to his feet with a sigh and drew his blade. The shadows slithered towards him like snakes and sank into his skin. He firmly dammed up the darker impulses that began to bubble up as he used the shadows to refuel his aura and empower him.

He supposed he could spar a few moments to play with the monsters. Beowolves were very rarely more than mild annoyances at his current level, they would serve well as a way to cool off.

And take out his self-loathing over his failures on the hapless monsters.

* * *

Jaune opened his eyes an yawned, sitting up in his bed before stretching and drowsily getting up. He went through his morning rituals and looked in the mirror, frowning at the faint shadows that lingered under his eyes.

"I still need more rest, I shouldn't overdo it... this body isn't fully matured yet." He murmured, scrubbing a hand over his face.

The fight (really though it was more of a one-sided slaughter of the beowolves) had gone on for a bit longer than Jaune had anticipated and as a result, lost a bit of sleep. It wasn't entirely unexpected, he had just been practicing and was more than a bit exhausted, even after using the shadows to support him. Though if he wanted to be honest, being drowsy was far more preferable and a much less costly price to pay relative to being roughed up by the grimm as the other alternative. Not to mention Signal had approved of his audition and he was going to start schooling again.

"Well I supposed I should buy some school essentials then..." He said as he got dressed.

Hopefully the material was easier that Beacon's.


	11. Chapter 11

Jaune leapt high, right hand slapping down on a beowulf's snout as he flipped himself over it's wild lunge, shadows curling around his left hand. His thrust his hand down and the shadows struck like a lance, tearing through the beast's skull. Jaune landed on his feet, simultaneously crouching down and ducking a swipe from an Ursa. Jaune twisted and slashed his hand up and the shadows at the grimm's feet surged upwards like a jagged blade of obsidian and bisected the ursa in half. Jaune continued with the movement, slapping his bone clad hand on the ground away from the fading Ursa. A creep that was was about to bite Jaune's head off was speared by several sharp stakes of shadow coming down on it with the force of avalanche.

Jaune straightened with a sigh, feeling his aura hovering at about thirty-five percent of his tank. He'd been at this for a while, and he stumbled right into the middle of a pack of beowolves. The violence had only drawn more attention to what was going on and soon Jaune was carving through a veritable horde of grimm. He turned to stare at the small number of grimm that hovered at the edge of the clearing he made during the battle. They had crouched away from the bone spires and gouges he'd carved into the earth. Their eyes were wide, instincts screaming that attacking this entity would not leave them alive. He took a moment to regulate his breathing, panting would probably be a sign of weakness.

"Well?" he said quietly, "Scared?"

As if by hearing my voice, the grimm's anger overrode their instincts and they charged.

Jaune sighed, 'Such pointless hatred...'

Two forearm blades of bone shot out of Jaune's grimm gauntlets and the shadows surged at Jaune's heels. He tore into their numbers, ducking swipes and blocking claws while his shadows and bone blades sliced swathes through their group. Some time later, Jaune grabbed the last two grimm's - beowolves - heads and slammed them together into an explosion of gore. As their bodies crashed to the ground and began to dissolve, Jaune took a moment to let his legs fold under him and breath in the crisp and cold air before he let it out in a raspy exhale. He looked around and surveyed his handiwork - multiple lumps of disintegrating grimm - while gulping down air before turning away and wiping away the sweat beading on his forehead and matting his hair to his forehead.

God he needed a shower.

He looked at the shattered moon and judged he had spent a few hours slaughtering grimm with his shadows. It was high time he headed back, he was tired and low on aura - it wouldn't be severe unless another horde came along - not to mention that he needed rest and be ready for school anyway.

* * *

Jaune woke to his alarm ringing in his ears and irritably slapped a hand down on the button to shut it off. He blinked a few times to gain a grasp on his surroundings. With a yawn he sat up and rubbed his eyes as he swung his legs off the bed so that he could get to his feet. Maybe it had only been a day or two, but Jaune still felt like he wasn't working hard enough to be ready. Unfortunately for him, his body still required more sleep than he would've liked to operate at a decent level, so he had to trade training time for resting. He shuffled over to his bathroom for a quick brush and shower. Sure he had a small wash before collapsing in his bed, but a thorough wash was always nice, helped loosen him up for a day. He toweled off - wincing as a bruise from a rather stubborn Ursa stretched despite his accelerated healing - as he exited the bathroom and quickly slipped on some clothes, thankful that Signal didn't have a dress code aside from one little thing.

They also insisted that you bring your combat outfit, and that was just a bit troublesome.

Jaune usually didn't mind his armor and whatnot, but he knew that it would just be a bit hard to lug all his armor bits in a backpack and include his school stuff as well; wearing it while at school would just be odd and probably give everyone the idea he was some sort of battle maniac. So with a small sigh he donned his armor and swung his backpack onto his bag. To be fair, his old combat outfit was armored but not to degree of having greaves and gauntlets and a much more appropriate attire for battle. Honestly, it probably looked pretty normal, some of the people - since some were Beacon students and some were hunters - that walked around regularly wore combat attire - albeit missing a few bits here and there - among the civilian masses as they strolled around. Jaune actually wore his whole armor ensemble once in the city and that was during his audition. Regardless, he decided to head over to Signal early and see if he could find his locker and put his armor in.

* * *

After a brief stroll and visit to his new school-issued locker, he was sitting in the hallway next to the door of his first class. Technically, it wasn't so much a class as a period called homeroom where you got introduced to a class you would be in the same homeroom in for the next four years. Personally, he would have liked to visit the library or cafeteria to see if he could relax there and grab a quick snack, but neither were really open at the time he got there (which was really a miscalculation on his part as Beacon's facilities for students were usually open most of the time provided they cleaned up after themselves and whatnot). Jaune hadn't really planned on doing anything that was interesting, maybe lean back against the wall and listen to music while reading. He sat down, unrolled his headset, and flicked through his song list before settling on 'I may fall'. He leaned back with his head against wall while the music thrummed in his ears.

He was interrupted after about ten and a half songs, which was about thirty minutes.

"Kid?" a voice queried.

Jaune tugged off his headset and looked up at the grizzled hunter addressing him, "Professor Qrow?"

"Are you a part of my homeroom?" He asked.

"Um... maybe? I think so?" He said sheepishly, Jaune tugged out his scroll and flicked the screen to his schedule, quickly stood up and checked that he was in front of the correct room, "I didn't think all teachers didn't have a homeroom. Aren't you a combat teacher...?"

He chuckled - nodding at the fair guess - and looked down at his sheet, "I guess you could make a fair guess, wanna come in?"

Jaune grinned and nodded.

* * *

He took a chair next to the window and stared outside.

"So exactly why were you so early? Classes don't start until 30 minutes from now." Qrow asked, propping his feet up on his desk.

Jaune shrugged, "The school guaranteed that there would be combat classes, so if we had a combat class, we should have out outfits ready. I figured that I might as well get it over with rather than put it off so..."

Qrow raised an eyebrow, but seemed amused, "We don't start actual combat till the end of the first week in, just to see where everyone stands and who uses what."

Jaune leaned back in his chair, "What can I say? I've always been more of a, 'prepare for any scenario' sort of guy. In all honesty, I can't exactly say I am going to be thrilled when I have to be cooped up in a classroom all day."

God he hoped none of the teacher were even a quarter as bad as Port, he my just be able to pull off a bleary-eyed sort of half-conscious state in the hunter's class this time around if he pushed it.

Qrow pulled of a half-disgusted half-horrified grimace at the thought, "I feel ya kid. Never was one for the classroom, every class was like a test to look vaguely interested and awake. Still, since you have a very good grasp on fighting, you should probably focus on the intellectual part to make up for it."

Jaune shifted in his chair so he could stare at his hands, calloused from holding a sword since he was child, so different when compared to the hands of his past self, "It's not that I skimped on my studies, I made sure to ace those first before throwing myself into training and getting my skills up to par. If I am going to pass this school and get to where I need to be, I can't afford to slack in anything."

Qrow eyes narrowed as he watched as the boy's gaze seemed to deepen and see something that wasn't there. Jaune wasn't quite scowling, but rather he grimaced, his expression was deep and dark with sorrow and bitter disappointment in himself. Again, Qrow didn't see how any kid his age could acquire a look like that.

He had been read Jaune's file and to be honest he was honestly a story Qrow had heard before from multiple people who came to Signal to learn.

Large family, youngest of multiple sisters, from the rural areas where some hunters resided to protect the borders of the town to keep it safe. Father was a hunter, as was his mother. Sisters had some training but hd followed more mundane pursuits. No lost family, no grimm attacks that cost lives that were close to his in any way, remote or otherwise. Nothing substantial to instigate such a strong desire to defeat the grimm that seemed to be this boy's sole reason to push himself as hard as he did.

But the conversation seemed done and Qrow digested all he heard about this strange kid as he shuffled some papers.

* * *

Jaune was flipping through his textbook's first few pages when the bell signaling the fifteen minute passing period between classes rang. He stiffened and his breath began to quicken while his chest pounded with the turbohammer of his heart slamming.

Oh god, oh god.

It was time.

He hadn't thought about it really - distracting himself with training and preparing for classes - but it was coming soon.

He would see Yang.

He suddenly was aware of how completely under-prepared he was for this moment. How should he react? Should he react at all? Qrow would notice if he glanced at Yang too frequently! Everyone would notice if he purposely skirted around her like she was toxic! He needed a plan, or some sort of course of action! What should he do? What would she do? His heartbeat was slamming against his chest, his breathing was beginning to speed up! He needed to calm down now!

'AAAAGGGGGGHHHH!' he screamed mentally, lowering his head to his desk with a slight thunk, 'I need more time!'

Qrow gave him a confused frown, "Uh... kid?"

"I'm fine!" He yelped quickly.

"You don't sound -"

"Fine! Totally okay!"

He would just not look at her! He would do his best to act as if she wasn't anyone he knew! He just had to calm down and be normal!

'You can do this!' He chastised himself angrily, 'You faced fire and death, fought the goddamn mother of all grimm and survived being hit by the goddamn Fall Maiden when you were barely capable of killing a ursa! She should have killed you! You even died and came back! Seeing a familiar face shouldn't rattle you damn it!'

Except Yang wasn't just a familiar face, she was a sister in all but blood. A friend and family member all in one, she had been an constant in the world while it all went to hell.

'No...' he closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, 'She isn't that person anymore.'

'She's not RWBY's Yang.'

'You are alone and haven't met anyone here. Act like it.'

He grit his teeth behind his grimace and exhaled sharply through his nose. Breathing in and out, he began to tell himself that he needed to calm down. Slowly the panic bubbling in his chest and throat began to cool and the tight grip on his heart lessened and ebbed away. He opened his eyes to catch the first few students wander in. In his peripheral vision, Jaune saw Qrow glance at him and desperately tried to not react in any way.

He felt a familiar aura brush against is senses and grit his teeth behind his lips.

Yang walked in.

Jaune's first thought was...

'Her hair is nowhere near as long.'

Her hair, though long enough to brush her mid-upper back was not the veritable waterfall of yellow that ran down her back at Beacon. Her eyes were the same lilac that he remembered (at least until frenzied) and her confidence was already there though slightly less matured and experienced. Her clothes were actually relatively normal, just a hoodie over a t-shirt and jeans.

Half of him wanted to burst into hysterical laughter at that while the other half wanted to hug her while sobbing. Instead he simply squared his shoulder while his shoulders shook in repressed emotion, eyes closed as he bowed his had so no one could see him squeeze his eyes shut hard enough that they watered. When he composed himself, he looked up and saw the rest of the class shuffling in. He even recognized a few of the other people. Some of them were Yang's friends from Signal that had made it to Beacon, others he'd vaguely seen on the street in a past life.

His eyes flicked the the familiar mane of gold and he took a deep breath as his chest ached with unspoken words.

* * *

Jaune hadn't been able to leave homeroom fast enough and clattered into the restroom before stumbling over to a sink and turning the knob for cold water to full and cupping his hands. Thank god no one else was here otherwise they probably would have called a nurse to cart him to the medical wing. The cold slap of water chased away the lingering ache in his chest and he stood for a moment staring at the white bowl of the sink while drops of water fell from his nose and eyelashes. He closed his eyes and inhaled, shoving the stinging in his eyes down.

"I'm okay." he whispered, "I'm okay."

Everyone had to introduce themselves in class. Fortunately, he had managed to get through that without looking like an idiot but probably came off as quiet and as a loner. He followed with the class until they got to Yang and she confidently said who she was and her introduction. He closed his eyes and tried not to think of his Yang and draw comparisons with this Yang. He wished he could simply rest his head on his arms after that and not think of his future/past, but his mind kept reminding him of his past and everyone's future.

He sighed and pulled a paper towel to swipe across his face and shouldered his bag more firmly, "You'll be okay."

* * *

Fortunately, Jaune was able to avoid thinking too much about Yang in most classes, focusing on the teachers sending out a syllabus for each class and their respective schedules rather than memories. He carefully organized each document on his scroll and flicked through it, giving each the subjects a careful scan as he checked to see what they would study. Mainly it was all the subjects in Beacon minus Port's lectures, Oobleck's rapid-fire talking, and several courses easier; all of those tiny details were a definite relief.

Jaune propped his head in his hand as he stared out the window. He imagined that it would be easier to ignore Yang as long as he didn't look at her.

He didn't want to ignore her though.

But he was still unbalanced, hurting from memory.

All he needed was -

"Time..." He murmured softly.

He sighed and cracked his neck, gazing at the clock.

Just a few more minutes.

* * *

The week slowly passed by, each day slowly becoming a bit more bearable.

Jaune danced around Yang, acting as normally as he can, all the while making sure it just seems like coincidence that he's not in the same vicinity.

Hell, Qrow actually didn't even see it.

So it's only at the end of the week, when combat is actually beginning to be taught that it all crashed down like an landslide.

"For combat we'll have to pair up!" The instructor said brightly.

Jaune had been looking forward to combat, it's much easier to forget that he was seeing younger versions of people he cherished when he was dancing around grimm and nothing mattered but the rush of combat and the singing of the blood in his veins as they fell to his weapon. Sure he couldn't actually cut loose on students - most of whom are still mediocre with their weapons - but the sweet catharsis of fighting always took his mind off his past.

Jaune's sense of foreboding kicked up a few notches as he felt Qrow's aura brush against his senses and realizes something.

Yang is most likely trained by Taiyang and wants a good fight.

Qrow has fought him and probably wants to see a match between him and his niece.

Oh no.

Qrow who had been watching from the upper observation platform leaned forward, almost slumping entirely on the rail, "Hey! I got a great idea!"

The instructor raised an eyebrow at the grizzled hunter, who grinned broadly.

Jaune cursed wildly in his head.

"Have that Arc kid and Yang fight!"

Jaune stomach plummeted somewhere that is about six feet under his body as his eyes widen.

'Fucking Qrow...' he growled in his head.

The instructor looked to see Yang - who flipped two thumbs up - and Jaune - before blinking at the look of utter dismay and horror on his face before the emotions are cut off under a blank mask - before he looked at his clipboard.

"Come on!" Qrow urged.

The instructor gave the blank-faced boy another small glance before shrugging and gesturing the to take the stage.

Yang confidently strode onto the stage and turned, eyes already scanning the group of students to see exactly who Jaune is. She saw the boy walk onto the stage and appreciatively hummed under her breath. Straw-blonde hair and deep blue eyes, not bad in the looks department and his armor resembles a knight from fairytales. As if to accentuate that, he drew a gleaming sword from his waist before his sheath unfolded into a shield.

Not bad at all.

She cocked her weapons back and assumes her ready stance, just as her dad showed her.

"Begin!" The instructor called.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter is a bit short, it's about 497 words shorter than my usual benchmark (Not including the AN) but it felt better to end it there and whatnot. Anhywho, I just wanted to say thanks for your patience in dealing with my slow updates and also, check out Ghost Fire 6's story.**

 **Constructive critique if there is a need for critique and be nice.**

 **Thanks.**

 **-Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Jaune backpedaled as Yang came in swinging, ducking under a punch and using his gauntlets to block and push off the spartan kick that followed. He slid out of her range and she followed, grinning excitedly as she chased him around. Jaune jaw clenched as his heart twisted at the familiar smile, desperately making sure he wasn't grimacing. He twisted around a punch and slashed at her, Crocea Mors gleaming in the light of the arena. Spark danced in the air as she blocked the blow with her left bracer and used a shot from her right, spinning as she tried to nail Jaune with her elbow. He once again stepped out of the way and kept moving till he was out of her immediate range.

He knew from personal experience that trying to contest with Yang in strength was an exercise in futility, regardless of how strong he may have been now, Yang's bruiser attack style was made to fight in close quarters and her semblance only made her ramp up to overwhelm an opponent. Adding onto the fact that Yang was no slouch - and while her attacks were still somewhat unrefined and nowhere near her Beacon level - Jaune didn't want fight in her comfortable range, his best bet was to strike when he could and back away to avoid any possible repercussions. He could keep hitting her when he could - she may receive strength from pain, but that didn't mean she was immortal - the accumulated battle damage had to catch up sooner or later. He fought a smirk as he thought of those fighting games he'd play in the arcades on his off time.

Either way, it didn't making Yang an easy foe. Even if he had trained like a demon since he was a child, it was very likely Yang had been training quite the same. Jaune swung his blade, twisting around the path of Yang's fist - which was shaking the air with heat - in order to lock Yang's hand with his blade and shove her slightly off kilter. He had to be fast, Yang's hair was already flowing and shimmering at the edges like a smoldering ember set to blaze into the fire. Spinning, he threw back his left arm, edge of his shield glinting in the light. For a moment the world slowed as the side of shield began to shorten the gap between it and the back of her head.

CLANG!

Oh, that was definitely gonna smart.

'Yang's gonna hate me.' Jaune thought half-despairingly, half-resigned.

* * *

Yang stumbled forward at the blow to the back of her head, almost tumbling to the floor as pain flared in her head. There was moment where she managed to straighten and paused for a split-second, eyes squeezed shut to block out the ache. Her aura blunted the attack that would have given anyone less sturdy than her a concussion, and was dimming the pain so everything didn't become fuzzy at the edges.

But DAMN, the knight had some serious strength packed in his frame.

She hadn't been able to catch his body type or any of his muscles due to the hoodie and armor covering his body, but he was probably pretty well developed on that track. She turned, arms held up to a more defensive blocking posture, daring him to get in and attack. Regardless or uncaring, he didn't budge or even shift forward; ocean eyes calmly regarded her, eyeing her form. To her surprise, it wasn't in an even slightly dirty way or surprised, he was simply trying to figure out what she may due next. Her eyes flicked to the aura bar that was mounted to the side, still within the gree-

Silver flashed and she realized he was waiting for her to slip.

He'd expected it.

The sword slid against her bracer in a shower of sparks and she backpedaled, she didn't like fighting defensively, but she wasn't willing to give him a chance to keep hitting her. Using a shot to propel her leap back, she landed far enough away to get to a comfortable range. She cocked her bracers back and began launching blasts at the knight. The knight's mouth twisted in annoyance and he began to zigzag, jerking and twisting around some shots, slicing through a couple, and blocking others. He closed the distance enough to restart his assault; she jerked her head to the side from a thrust and threw an uppercut, skimming his cheek and forcing him to take a step back. She felt the blade pass the side of her face and Jaune immediately paled as he retreated, eyes wide in abject horror. She blinked, what was he suddenly so afraid of-

A single strand of glimmering gold - still shimmering with the fading glow of her yellow aura - drifted in the air before floating down to the floor.

Both of the combatants stared at the strand of her hair for a moment, then up at each other.

Yang's eyes were suddenly burning and blazed red.

"You. Cut. My. Hair."

"I'm sorr-"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She roared.

* * *

Qrow sighed, wondering if his semblance was the culprit of the boy's misfortune, not that he was actually close enough to affect the two combatants. Yang was a brilliant fighter and wasn't inexperienced, she knew when to pull back on an assault after clearly proving herself victorious.

But if she got angry...

Poor Jaune went tumbling - ass over teakettle - back as Yang decked him in the face.

Well...

Qrow never really got WHY Yang was so attached to her hair, but she was.

* * *

Yang began to charge forward recklessly and Jaune jumped back to his feet before he moved out of the way, lips pressed in a thin line as a bruise blackened on his face. Instead of lifting his shield, Jaune refolded the shield back into a sheathe and switched his stance, bending his knees slightly and keeping his sword hand and free hand loose and at his sides. Yang bore down on him and Jaune began to weave in between the strikes, bobbing and swaying out of the way or using his free hand and sword to nudge blows so that they wouldn't deliver the maximum damage even if they hit him. Jaune winced as a knee dug into his stomach and retaliated with a shove with his free hand that knocked Yang off balance, giving him time to retreat. Despite how much aura they both were using, Jaune's aura wasn't lessening by much, which only heightened Yang's ire as her aura blazed. She was only landing a few glancing blows and she knew most of the force was being redirected by subtle shifts in his stance.

"Stay still, dammit!" She yelled as she threw a punch.

Jaune twisted under and around the strike before lashing out with a kick to the back of Yang's leg that forced her down to one knee. Yang grunted as she fell and caught herself on her hands but suddenly realized she had lost track of her opponent. An arm wrapped around her neck and yanked her off the ground and slammed her to the floor - she let out a half groan half growl - and got a harsh kick which sent her skidding across the floor. She rolled on the last foot of momentum and regained her footing, now glaring at a slightly beat up Jaune.

"Look, um... Yang?" he sighed and gave her an apologetic look, "I really am sorry about your hair. Really. I wasn't actively aiming for it and I didn't mean to cut it, I swear."

Yang gave him a unimpressed glare.

Jaune face took on a remorseful and weary expression, "You're gonna knock my teeth in, aren't you?"

Yang cracked her knuckles, "What a _**wonderful**_ idea."

* * *

"The match is decided! Yang Xiao Long is the victor!" he instructor called.

Jaune panted as he began the process of trying to regulate his breathing rather than sound like he ran a marathon, Yang cracked a grin at the result before flopping to the floor leaning back on her hands as she gasped. Jaune had used a fair bit of his aura to stop Yang's strength from breaking a few ribs and busting up his internal organs, but it was nothing a good night's rest and a good while of aura meditation couldn't fix up. Yang hadn't lost anymore hair (thank the lord) but she had been a fair bit beyond beat up - not that he came out unscathed - to the point that the instructor decided they both should stop and used the aura gauge to determine the victor (which kinda sucked since Yang's stength only ramped up in response to his blows). Honestly, Jaune knew that wasn't the best way to gauge a match, but fighting Yang was wearing his nerves ragged and he didn't care how the match ended so long as it did.

He didn't dither after he caught his breath and strode over to Yang and held out a hand, "Really. I'm sorry."

She gave him a glare before sighing and clasping his hand as he pulled her back to her feet, wincing as some of her fading bruises and cuts pulled.

"Fine, but you touch my hair again, and they'll never find your body." Yang threatened good-naturedly, her demeanor light "You're crazy good with that sword of yours."

Jaune smiled, expression twisted into something Yang couldn't quite make out before smoothing into a somewhat wistful smile, "Are you kidding? If anyone should be praised, it's gotta be you. You're honestly the third hardest fighter I've ever had to fight."

Yang frowned, "Only you're third?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head, "Well, my dad taught me how to fight and lord knows he could hand my ass to me on a silver platter if he was serious, then I had to spar with Professor Qrow an-"

"You fought my uncle?!" She gasped.

Jaune flinched back, "Um... Yeah?" Then he remembered to act surprised, "Wait, Qrow is your uncle?"

"How do you still have all your limbs?!"

"I gave up? Did I mention it was simply a assessment?"

"Oh. That makes sense though, Uncle Qrow can usually wipe the floor with just about anyone." Yang said thoughtfully, "Why'd you give up? Were you about to pass out or something?"

Jaune closed his eyes, shrugging in a slightly offhand manner, "I'm not the type of guy to keep fighting a hopeless battle if it's unnecessary; if I hadn't stopped, you're uncle would have put me in traction and braces right before the school started. I don't know about you, but I wasn't to keen on walking on crutches..."

* * *

Jaune had made his way to his locked, making sure Yang didn't catch sight of the bitter grimace on his face as they went to the separate locker rooms. He sighed as he opened his locker and began to unbuckle his armor, unfastening the tightened straps at his sides. He lifted the upper armor and set it in his locker before sliding off his gauntlets and moving to work on his greaves.

It helped somewhat, doing something. He could focus on the motions rather than dwell on unbidden memories.

He'd read stories about time-travel, mostly they were just fanciful tales and stories, but he knew that even the slightest change could drastically alter things, and not always for the better. Hell, he might of screwed something up by going to Signal or meeting Qrow too early here. In spite of that, he'd bantered casually with Yang, acting for all the world as if she were an old friend. No matter how much he wished otherwise, nothing would let Yang know him as her future counterpart had. He couldn't act like he knew them.

God, it hurt to accept that fact. Now he knew why stories about traveling in time never went into detail about that sort of pain.

No one could accurately describe the pain.

"I can't do this..." He whispered, heart aching, "It all feels so wrong."

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the cool metal of his locker door, trying his best to push the distressing memories to the back of his head. He would let something slip that he shouldn't and then people would wonder EXACTLY what he knew. Fighting was nothing compared to this, he could at least DO something about it when he was in a fight. Trying to keep what he felt locked inside and acting like someone else was never his forte (If his idiotic attempts to try to get Weiss on a date - back in his last life - with him was any indication). When he composed himself and settled his nerves, he began to walk out of the locker room. As he walked he gently prodded at his bruised flesh and winced before letting his aura fix the most visible damage from Yang's punch.

Even at this age, the girl had a mean right.

* * *

Jaune sighed as he tossed his bag onto his desk before dropping onto his bed and throwing an arm over his eyes.

He didn't feel like fighting grimm tonight.

Yang had gotten a lot more friendly after their spar, reminding Jaune of her older self as she had decided that he was definitely tough enough to be her friend. Despite the fact it hurt when he faced her, it also made him happy. He may not have been able to relive becoming her friend at Beacon, but here...

He'd really like that.

So the question became a matter of whether he SHOULD, what would be repercussions would being friends with her this early be?

Jaune let out a wistful sigh and began stripping off his clothes and slipped into his pajama pants, not bothering with putting on a shirt. His abdomen ached with soreness and he grumbled at the reminder of his painful bout with Yang. He put his clothes into the laundry hamper in his bathroom and began to go through his nightly rituals. Instead of flopping on the bed and trying to go to bed, he sat on his bed for a moment, flexing his aura to run through his torso. He sighed in abject relief as his aura began mending and removing the bruises on his stomach from his earlier spar.

When he was fully healed he took a moment to stop focusing his aura and simply let it fluctuate and flow. He sighed and let it dissipate into the normal flow and stretched to see if he missed anything.

"All clear..." Jaune murmured, "Well I guess that settles that..."

Jaune rolled off his bed to slip inside the covers and lay his head on the pillow, he thought of Signal and yawned. Mind occupied with different results of all of his future actions, Jaune didn't even notice when his thoughts became dreams and he drifted off in to the oblivion of sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**11:06 PM 3/23/17**

 **YARN's Journal (yes I do have a journal, wanna talk about it? Well too bad!)**

 **1000 reviews on one of my stories! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! FINALLY! *runs off screaming and laughing like a lunatic while flailing hands in the air***

 **Thank you Fireshared!**

 **-YARN**

* * *

Jaune sighed quietly as he cut down another beowolf with a lance of black shadow. He was getting bored of all these lesser grimm. His repetitive slaying of grimm like this wasn't testing any of his abilities and seeing what he could do. Sure, he was slowly getting a better handle on how much aura he used, but at the current rate, it would soon become a waste of time unless he pushed himself harder. In Dorme, cutting loose was an option because Jaune was reasonably assured that his family wouldn't betray him. He could unleash waves of fire and ice under the watchful eye of his father and craft using his semblance without fear of anyone talking about it.

However with his shadows and grimm, he had to be sure not to tell anyone or let anyone even suspect. His family probably wouldn't know what to do and suggest he get the grimm removed (which was - unfortunately - impossible for him to do, even if he wanted to). Dual semblances weren't exactly common, and he knew speaking to the wrong person about it would only let it get spread around. The last thing he needed was to be approached by any group looking to recruit him. He might just snap if he saw Cinder, Mercury, or Emerald and try to eviscerate them on the spot, even if they would kill him.

He sighed and fell back, slapping a hand on the ground to haul his body up and balance - upside-down - as he used his foot to kick a blade of shadow through an approaching Ursa's skull and then slice it in half. He tilted his wrist and landed on his haunches with a slight huff as he thought about what he should do. Venturing deeper into the forests was a tempting option, truth be told. The farther out he went and closer he got to the interspaced travel routes, the chances of fighting other and more powerful grimm was significantly higher. When Team RNJR was hunting a Geist that was terrorizing a small town, they had been pretty removed from the kingdoms. If Qrow hadn't been watching over them, they probably would have been constantly battling through packs of grimm in order to make any significant progress towards Mistral. If that option was still too light, there were the abandoned towns and destroyed villages that dotted the travel paths, where buildings had been decimated and people were massacred.

Testaments to the creatures of darkness that ruined them and the lingering negative emotions from the dead tended to draw grimm.

Suddenly, Jaune remembered Ren's fury and Nora's sadness.

Jaune's gauntlets creaked under the sheer pressure as he clenched his fists, thinking of Ren and Nora's village destroyed by the Nuckelavee. He'd forgotten what it had done to them,he should've gone to help! Some friend he was, Ren and Nora could have saved the village, they could all be... friends again...

Jaune tense anger and self-loathing loosened into melancholy sorrow as logic kicked his irrational desires down.

What could he have done? Fight a Nuckelavee as an untrained 5 year old with a sword he hadn't mastered and no prayer of winning? If he - by some miracle - actually arrived there, he probably would have been killed along with Ren's family and have failed everyone.

He couldn't have done anything.

What hope did he have of changing anything?

He reigned in his thoughts and emotions as two beowolves crept into the clearing after sensing his negative emotions.

'No.' he snarled at his doubts, 'I won't fail. I can't think like that. I refuse to be weak and lose those who I care about ever again.'

With a sigh, Jaune cracked his neck and beckoned at the two monsters.

* * *

Jaune ran a hand through his hair as he power-walked towards his class, it wouldn't do for him to be late, he needed to get as good a grade as possible to apply to Beacon and be accepted. Grimm slaying and training while in the middle of the night tended to really take it out of you. He had to make sure his internal clock was spot on, leaving him enough time to rest, get ready, and make it to class without looking tired. He made it to class with five minutes to spare and slid into his seat with a sigh, yanking out his notebook and pen. He began to look through his bag for an eraser when he - as well as everyone else in the classroom - jumped as a hand slapped on top of his desk and a familiar grin caught his gaze.

Jaune rolled his eyes but smiled at his friend, "Hey Yang."

"Sup?" Yang replied while grinning.

It had been about two weeks since Jaune and Yang's spar, and the result was a fast-forming friendship between the two blondes. Jaune had been happy to accept and despite the fact that Yang was Qrow's niece, Jaune didn't seem at all worried that the hunter would gut him for 'fraternizing' with his niece.

* * *

Qrow sat at his desk, watching the two begin talking. He wasn't worried about Jaune putting any moves on Yang (he just didn't give off that sort of vibe and was pretty sure Yang would kick Jaune's ass if he tried anything).

However, one thing was bothering him aside from the usual concerns (most of which were mainly centered on when he was running low on alcohol or was beginning to sober up).

Jaune had known about Yang's protectiveness when it came to her hair. Even before he had fully pulled back from that attack, his eyes had widened and he knew of the rage that would hit him.

How?

To Qrow's knowledge, he had never seen Yang before school.

Then again, maybe his sisters had been protective of their hair and he had expected the same from Yang?

Even so... something just didn't fit about this kid. Still, he had one more puzzle piece for the enigma that was Jaune Arc.

'One step at a time.' He quietly mused in his head.

* * *

Classes were boring.

That was the most that could be said of them.

Jaune liked to think that he would have learned more about grimm and monsters from getting a hunter's education this early on, but most of those subjects simply skirted around the abilities and barely dipped into how to deal with such an opponent. Jaune would have preferred Port, because at least the man would mention the best way to kill the beast after winding his tall tales to a close. The classes here were based more on history and significant battles and historical events. Jaune didn't mind them, but knew that they wouldn't help him in killing grimm.

Combat wasn't as bad.

Killing grimm was all well and good when it came to flexing his power and getting a better handle on it, but as far as fighting against people.

They weren't even helpful.

Grimm - at their basest level - were simply animals with little to no intelligence. With age came experience in how to fight, but their wild swings and usual tactics could be studied and worked around pretty easily as they generally stuck to what their instincts told them to do. Human opponents had no such limitation, with their intelligence came adaptability and different tactics and strategies. It would be comparing how he fought against different people.

Take Yang and Weiss for example.

Yang was a bruiser, the more damage she took and pain she felt, the more power she would gain. With her getting in close range was not ideal unless one wanted to be hammered with more powerful blows over time, assuming you were damaging her on trying to beat her at her own game. A better tactic was to strike whenever one could, and slip away so she wouldn't be able to retaliate. If you were faster that she was you might be able to weave in between her strikes and hit her when a gap opened. She also wasn't quite that good at dealing with kicking opponents,which was something she needed to work on. She also had a slight inclination to rage when she was losing, and while that made her stronger, it also made her sloppy. She tended to swing recklessly and left herself full of openings.

Weiss - on the other hand - was not nearly as resistant as Yang was when it came to damage, in all honesty, she was probably the worst of her team when it came to taking hits. Moving past that, she was quick and able to strike incredibly fast multiple times. Her glyphs tended to act as enhancers to different abilities. Boosting her attributes, making walls for her to jump off of, and even shields to block incoming attacks. Her fencing style was about deflecting and directing blows so she could dodge, and she used her semblance mainly to empower her speed and maneuverability, striking with number of blows before dancing away and around to restart. It would be better to tank those blows, shifting to avoid the most of the damage when possible and catch her as she tended to flourish a bit before attacking.

One could study how their opponent fought as they clashed and in which way the enemy reacted to their counters. It was like fighting someone like Weiss. Both Yang and Weiss were fantastic fighters, but they was also smart (Weiss being practically a genius). They weren't fools and would never keep trying something that didn't work (that was more Yang's type of battling and Jaune would need to curb that tactic and hopefully correct it before things really kicked off). In a fight, each side were constantly gathering more and more data to use, and applying it to turn the tide in their favor.

It was basically a ever-evolving game of chess.

Even so, the students here were either novices or just starting to grow with their weapons, not even proficient like Yang. They all had basic understandings and simplistic move sets, they hadn't practiced with the to the point that the weapon was practically an extension of their body.

That was what dangerous hunters did if they wanted to stay dangerous. They practiced their basics even after they MASTERED the most advanced techniques, to see if they could improve those and rework the moves from the ground up with a stronger foundation. They worked with their weapons till it was almost instinctive to use it. But regardless of how inexperienced the students were, there was knowledge to be gained, a person just needed to know how to look.

Hunters - past, present, and future - sometimes wielded a huge variety of weapons and gear, some of which were - for lack of a better term - outlandish when put into practice. Velvet's weapon was a camera - which while being unusual was strong enough to block grimm's attacks and other hunter's attacks - that made copies of people weapons so she could use them. Ruby's baby - no disrespect to Crescent Rose (it really was kickass) - or Qrow's weapon was originally a farming tool (if Jaune remembered correctly) that was... modified by Ruby into a weapon.

Hell, Coco had a purse-minigun.

Jaune's father had made sure Jaune knew one of the most important rules when fighting against people who had weapons.

"You can know how someone does something, how a spearman may thrust a certain way, or a gunner may shoot. But knowing how they did it DOESN'T mean you know how to counter it effectively." John had said.

He then demonstrated with hand-to-hand combat and smashed Jaune into the dirt.

You need to understand a weapon at least a little - see it in action from the start - to understand how to fight against it. Of course, going to at least learn the basics with practically every weapon was nigh impossible, Jaune would probably be somewhere past twenty by the time he managed it if he tried.

However everyone in Signal was still starting with their weapons (except for Yang and a few other battle maniacs). Jaune knew how to handle his sword, he trained harder than he had ever tried to, both lives included. And maybe the individual styles differed from person to person, but every branch that grows on a tree always came from the same trunk. He would keep growing, and keep getting stronger, he had to. So he would watch, carefully observe the battles and every weapon he could, learn from other's styles how to counter and save everyone.

* * *

Still, Jaune wished he could fight someone other than Yang who was skilled, beating up unskilled opponents was hardly even a warm-up.

Jaune ducked and spun out of the range of the single-edged blade that his opponent swung at him. The boy (which - considering Jaune's current physical age - was really strange to call anyone that, it wasn't like Jaune was ancient) was lithe and tall, his build was more of a precision fighter's, if Jaune had to guess. However, judging by how wide and uncontrolled his swings were - not even mentioning how he was putting power in his swings rather than any noticeable finesse - he had a long while to go before he would be a worthy fighter. He hadn't formed any strategy or developed any fighting style, and failing to plan was planning to fail after all. Jaune caught another slash on the flat of his blade and leaned against the other boy, whose face was contorted with strain as he pushed against Jaune.

"You gonna give yet?" The boy panted.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "If I was any more bored, I would trying to catch a quick nap."

Jaune didn't even pull out his shield, it would just be unnecessary overkill in this case.

The boy grit his teeth and shoved harder, only for Jaune to completely stop pushing and sidestep, letting the now off balance hunter-in-training stumble past him. Jaune quickly stepped in and brought his hilt to the back of his opponent's head, which knocked him face-first into the floor. There as slight whine from the monitors as the boy's aura dropped into the red.

"Jaune Arc is the victor." The teacher called.

Jaune nodded at the instructor and calmly walked off the platform after he sheathed Crocea Mors.

"Nice." Yang complimented.

Jaune shrugged, "Not really, the guy has a huge list of stuff to work on if he wants to really succeed."

Yang rested an elbow on his shoulder, cocking a questioning eyebrow, "That's so? A lot of our year are only just getting started."

Jaune sighed and rubbed the back of his head, frowning, "Maybe I am being a bit harsh. I just hate thinking that someone'll lose out later just because they weren't the same level I was when I got here. My dad put me through hell when it came to training, but I wanted him to and it paid off, you're practically the only one who I actually fight with..."

In all honesty, Jaune just didn't want anyone to die. If they didn't put in the effort now, then they would pay for it with their lives or the lives of other people later.

And he didn't want that.

* * *

Jaune sighed as he strolled down the streets, dialing his home.

After three rings, his mother picked up, "Hello?"

"Hey mom." Jaune said, lips quirking into a fond smile.

"Jaune!" She said, "Good to hear from you! How are you?"

"Fine, I'm just missing everyone." I replied, "How is everyone?"

"Missing you and acting a bit moodier, but other than that, they're fine. How's Signal?" His mother inquired.

Jaune gave an easy shrug, even though his mother couldn't see it, "Well enough, to be utterly honest? The only classes I even remotely look forward to are the combat classes. I can at least see some cool moves from some of the more ambitious classmates, otherwise people are trying not to trip over their swords and impale themselves."

His mother chuckled.

Jaune called at least once a week, just to hear from everyone and be there in spirit. It wasn't the same, he knew that from his previous life that just calling them was hollow and empty by comparison to actually being there, but he could make amends when everything ended. He promised himself that he would fight as long as he had to no matter what. He'd save them and make sure they'd live long and carry on. Even if it'd cost him his life, he save everyone.

Because he gave his word.

Because he was an Arc.

And an Arc never goes back on his word.


	14. Chapter 14

**Gah, pulling this out of my head was a pain!**

 **-Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Jaune sat at a table and chewed a small pile of mashed potato from the mound of food on his plate. It wasn't even close to his mother's food, but it was just about Beacon quality, and they had pretty good meals. He sat at a spot that was in the corner and surveyed the cafeteria that was slowly filling up with people. Lunch was one of the few times he could find a bit of solace from the humdrum monotony of school and allowed for a brief moment of calming introspection.

He absently wished he knew actually someone other than Qrow and Yang. His classmates weren't unsociable, but he had no real inclination to try to get to know anyone. He wasn't the best at making friends, and didn't know if he would be well received. What really made him shake his head in fond disbelief, was - as per the usual - Yang. Despite being in the top bracket of freshmen of note however, Yang wasn't exactly - or even remotely for that matter - in the same boat. With her naturally outgoing and upbeat personality, she was making friends, admirers, and acquaintances with barely any effort.

He never thought she'd have any trouble, though it was surprising to see just how well she succeeded.

He sighed as she plopped herself down next to him, "What'd you get?"

He twirled a spoon in his hand as he motioned at his mashed potatoes with his free hand, "A heavy load of potatoes with a splash of gravy, multiple chicken nuggets with a liberal dousing of ketchup, and all topped off with a single chocolate chip cookie for dessert."

"That's not alot." She remarked sacastically.

"Well, you know how us fragile-ego men have to be careful about how much we eat so we don't get fat." He replied haughtily, chin jutted up as though trying to come across as snooty.

Yang took a single glance and burst out laughing, She managed to gasp out, "Of course! So unlike us tough and uncaring women!"

Jaune composure broke and began laughing as well.

After they calmed somewhat, Jaune took a deep breath and grinned, "But honestly, I don't have much of an option when it comes to meals. I cook better than this without trying all that hard. The main reason I usually eat here is because I get hungry if I don't, which leads to me being cranky and irritable until I get home and eat there."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "You can cook?"

Jaune nodded, "Yep. Pretty well too... if my mother is to be believed."

Yang fired a challenging grin, "Now I've got to try that."

Jaune smirked, "Wanna bet, you're stacking things in my favor by not believing."

Yang gave him a scrutinizing look before huffing, "I'll take your word for it."

Jaune snapped his fingers and growled in mock-frustration, "Damn, and here I was, hoping to score an easy twenty lien..."

* * *

"Seriously?" Jaune commented in a deadpan at the article on the scroll that was shoved in his face, "You want me to participate in that?"

"Yeah!" Yang said, kicking her legs up on the chair opposite her as they sat in the library, "You won't believe the sort of cred you get for fighting, and I'm just about sure I'll win. I want to see you beat up the competition so we can really square off in the finals. So what if we are freshmen? We'll show that we're gonna be the best!"

Jaune absently wondered if telling Yang he was heading to the library would've actually deterred her by any appreciable amount. Her 'do what I want' attitude was only slightly less matured in that regard, and she seemed dead-set on talking to him about this. And the libraries at Signal had incredibly similar (which meant lax) rules to Beacon. Even so, Jaune sighed in fond exasperation, Yang was much the same as she was in Beacon.

Maybe a bit more childish, but still Yang.

Jaune hummed as he scanned the details more closely, "So it's basically an organized number of fights where people get to kick other people's asses in front of important people, teachers, mentors, family members - if they can attend - and other spectators and hopefully get some recognition and some prize cash if they win or finish in the top three?"

Yang punched his shoulder lightly, "That about sums it up. It's also no holds barred fight each round as well. Semblance, weapons, practically anything anyone can use from their entire arsenal and cut loose. No killing of course, but there's no school year restrictions or age limit and it follows regular school rules."

"Reminds me of the Mistral's tournament to be honest..." Jaune said as he minimized the article."

Yang pondered that, "What do you mean?"

Jaune turned to her, with an raised eyebrow "I think Mistral has this huge tournament where people compete to kick ass and get sponsorship deals and all the while look good, right?"

Yang grinned brightly at that, "Yeah, it's alot like that, just not as apparently huge or as widely known as that tournament. A lot of hunter prep schools have these smaller inter-school tournaments and it basically a test to see who deserves to be in the AP classes or needs help. Alot of the students who fight in it actually just want to test themselves."

Jaune rubbed his chin, "I guess it wold be a good idea to see how I stack up against some of the seniors here in Signal. I might as well check it out, if nothing else, it would be a decent chance to fight people who have actually trained with their weapons. Where do I sign up?"

Semblances were similar at times and vastly different at other times, but that would make this experience almost invaluable. If he fought people with varying abilities, it would be very helpful if he had to go up against possible opponents that had powers that were similar as he could plan countermeasures against them.

He'd just have to try his best then.

"I think there's a signup sheet that's on the office bulletin board, but it's still a couple of months off not even considering how before everybody who wants to signup might not because they might lose face." Yang replied, stretching her arms out before resting them behind her head, "I bet it will be a blast! I hope Ruby can watch me wipe the floor with the opposition."

Jaune blinked, he actually hadn't heard of Ruby in all the time while he had been interacting with Yang.

Might as well 'learn' about her then, besides, there was no time like the present...

"Ruby?" he queried.

Yang blinked, before smiling, "Yeah. Ruby's my little sis. Sweet kid, I love her to death."

Jaune tilted his head, "She gonna be a huntress too?"

Yang smirked, "Yep. She's pretty good with the scythe she uses, modeled it after seeing Uncle Qrow with his. She's a bit of a weapon nut. There was this one time she tried to pack fire dust in a bullet without supervision..."

Jaune smiled as he heard Yang go on about Ruby and her lesser-known escapades.

* * *

Jaune gritted his teeth as he finished the last of his routine as he dropped from the pull up bar he had been using. He took a moment to catch his breath after he rolled his shoulders and picked up the towel he had been using and slung it over his shoulder. He looked around to marvel at the facilities that he had access to in the city. Most of the time back in Beacon he'd train at night with Pyrrha without having much time to workout and build any appreciable muscle until Pyrrha deemed his skills as decently polished, they'd have to stick to the rooftop as the school workout centers would be closed. When the day rolled around, most of his free time was dedicated to studying, keeping up with everyone else, and attending classes.

He smiled, if he kept up with this, he would be leagues above his old strength by the time Beacon rolled around.

He used the facilities to take a quick wash and threw on some clothing as he left the lockers.

After stepping outside, he shouldered his duffel bag more securely and began strolling back to his apartment, he might as well get done with the homework he had left. The sooner he got that over with, the sooner he would get a free schedule. As he walked, his mind wandered to the tournament that would be held during the winter break. Would it be anything like Pyrrha's tournaments in Mistral? He wasn't averse to the ida of winning, Vale was a lot more lax in terms of ability. There wasn't a whole lot of 'you-are-of-a-higher-class-so-do-not-associate-with-these-kind-of-people' sort of thing here.

Heck, the only person who even remotely did that was Weiss and she was the heiress to The SDC and came from Atlas.

Vale tended to be more 'hey-this-person-is-famous-let's-see-what-we-can-make-off-of-them' in truth.

He honestly didn't think that was any better though.

He blinked and realized he was standing in front of his building, his feet instinctively carrying him as he pondered.

With a sigh, he entered and waved at the receptionist as he went to his apartment. He unlocked the door and noticed David passed out on the couch, remote in hand. Jaune didn't want to disturb him so he quietly swept into his room. He threw his bag into a corner after fishing out his scroll and flopping onto the bed. Jaune sighed from his bed as he laid down, staring at his scroll after he typed a few keystrokes.

He had dialed Pyrrha's old number.

His thumb hovered over the call button before he huffed and closed it. It was a stupid idea to even really consider. He'd only ever known her Beacon number and they had only gotten those when they went to Beacon. Even if - by some miracle - the number was the same, what if she didn't know him?

'Just some random guy called and then hung up after asking if I knew him.' she would think, 'What a weirdo.'

He was just tired.

Tired of seeing strangers and people wearing familiar faces.

Tired of wanting something that seemed so impossible it was laughable to expect it.

Tired of being the only one who had memories of things that no one else knew.

And even more so, he wasn't with his family anymore and that ached like gaping hole in his chest.

He shook his head like a dog shaking water, cutting his nosedive of depressing thoughts before he could mope about it. He had a second chance, and even if he may not have all that he had before, he was far more prepared to defend what he could have.

It would simply have to be enough.

If it wasn't, he MAKE it enough.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and decided he wanted to sleep in, he could always do his homework early or something.

He didn't want to do anything right now except sleep.

* * *

He grumbled wordless complaints into his pillow as he woke up facedown. He didn't even need the clock to know he had woken up way before he wanted to and was probably not going to get anymore sleep unless he wanted to cut class.

"Erg." He growled as he pushed himself to kneel and blink the sleep from his eyes.

The room was dark except for the faint light coming from his clock that read 2:52 in the morning.

Argh.

"Welp..." He sighed, "Might as well do that homework..."

He fished out his textbooks and opened his book to the necessary pages and began reading. Learning about the Faunus Revolution wasn't bad, but Jaune snorted when he read it. For as much as he like humanity, their treatment of faunus-kind was nothing short of despicable. Blake told them of how they were given an island and the equivalent of a 'you-can-have-this-now-shut-up-and-go'.

It wasn't fair.

Not in the slightest.

He quickly shook his head, now wasn't the time to dwell on the bigotry of people and his friends, he'd only make himself depressed - he really needed to stop thinking of his past/future as well as the people he associated with it, this was getting ridiculous and annoying - if he kept that up. He swiftly finished his homework and put it away in their proper places in his binder. He leaned back in his chair and noticed his guitar leaning against the wall in the corner. He hadn't played as much as he used to, going to Signal and then heading out to slay grimm had been using up almost all his spare hours.

He walked over and ran his hands over the strings, hearing the faint sound of strings as he closed his eyes. He smiled in contentment before gently strumming the stings and beginning to play. He gently played a lullaby that his mother would sing when he was a toddler. He heard it when he had nightmares and his mother would sing to him as he slept, calming him and easing his pain.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos panted as she rested her weight on her knees and took stock of all the metal she had lifted and threw. Not by much, but there was definitely more metal that she had been able to lift. Not all that much more noticeable than her habitual check, but she was improving, albeit slowly. Her aura was running low though, and it's drag was enough to make her want to stop to rest otherwise she might loose the ability to stay on her feet and would collapse. She looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw her father walk up, eyebrow raised.

He let out a low whistle, looking surprised.

Her father walked over and hummed appreciatively, "Well done. You've been growing in leaps and bounds, far faster than I thought possible. You should be proud."

Pyrrha smiled tiredly, "Thank you."

"I must ask though,what is with the sudden interest in strengthening your aura and semblance? You already have a decent amount of control and knowledge. It's nothing to be sneeze at with you being as young as you are." He asked casually as he walked over the cooler Pyrrha had set out earlier and withdrawing a water bottle.

She shut her eyes tight, remembering Cinder battle with her, loosing despite all of her strength and skill.

"I can't be decent." She replied firmly, "If I want to be a hunter, then I have to keep growing. I cannot allow myself to stagnate and say this is good enough. Something like that only allows for arrogance and foolish mistakes. No matter what, there is always someone stronger, able to defeat you at your best. I won't let that happen."

Her father stilled, his face twisting into a solemn expression before he took a deep breath, "Well, don't worry about something like that this early, you've still got a long way to go before you'll meet anyone truly dangerous and wanting to kill you."

Pyrrha flinched but strengthened her resolve.

'This time,' she thought fiercely, 'I'll beat Cinder. She won't win. Not again.'

* * *

Jaune let out an angry growl as he lunged to the side. Avoiding the fist of the beringel as he threw out a lance of shadow through its head and twisted Nirgredo against the claws of a beowolf. As the beringel's dissolving corpse fell, he moved with the momentum of the strike, allowing the force to push him into the air. He rolled in the air before landing on one hand - fingers digging into the dirt - before he pushed hard off the ground to land in a crouch. His senses screamed and he darted to the side, not even bothering to slash or parry but simply try to gain distance so he could formulate a plan. His gaze narrowed at the Ursa that was glaring at him - paws right on top of where he was standing - before it gave chase.

This was ridiculous.

Sure it was a rather old town ruin he had managed to find, but the grimm gathering here was a lot heavier than he expected. And - as if that wasn't enough - they were much tougher than his usual opponents. Jaune didn't usually mind, pushing himself was something he required sooner or later, but it was annoying as hell to deal with at the moment. He didn't want to push himself to the point of exhaustion, otherwise he'd have to wait in an grimm infested area while waiting for his aura to refill to an acceptable level which was just going to put him in even more danger. He could draw in shadows to replenish them, but too large of an amount would make him lose control over his grimm and force him to go on a rampage.

Kinda why he needed this training in the first place.

He'd have to do this with the most perfect control of aura he could manage so he wouldn't tire himself out too much.

Fine.

"Alright then." He growled, "Let's see how you bastards handle this!"

Jaune twisted, dragging the edge of Nigredo against the floor. He had already done this using his bone gauntlets, so channeling that feeling through Nigredo was only mildly difficult. A single spire of bone impaled an oncoming beowolf and Jaune was moving. Ducking away from the lunge of a beowolf, he stabbed Nigredo into the arm of a beringel and used it to haul himself up and smash the ape grimm in the face with an armored knee. As it recoiled, he yanked Nigredo out of the arm and decapitated it with a swift slash. He kicked of the chest of the dying grimm, using it as a springboard as he sliced through an ursa's arm. He spun and lunged, making a upward swiping motion with his hand and shadows erupted from the grimm feet, slicing the beast to ribbons.

A rumbling caught Jaune's attention and he turned, seeing a rolling blur of white heading for him.

'Boarbatusk...' he mused.

He swept his occupied hand outward as though backhanding a invisible person and the writhing darkness of the shadows shot outward as a single mass towards the grimm. It squealed in pain as the impact from the shadows sent it flying into a tower. Jaune directed the shadows with a swing of his sword, and they descended on the tower, smashing it and anything inside to fine dust.

When Jaune lowered his hand, the mass shadows followed; slithering out of the ruined tower to pool and gather at his feet like black puddle of water that was expanding. Red eyes and black shapes of grimm surrounded him, circling like a slow and dark whirlpool. Jaune's irises turned completely red as bones fully covered him and his bone helmet closed over his face with a sharp 'clack' of bone hitting bone.

"Come on then!" He roared as the shadows began to rise, "Come and claim your death!"

The grimm seemed to pause, muscles stretching taught as they tensed.

Then the wave of monster converged.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for making such a filler chapter…**

 **-Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Jaune gasped harshly - each breath feeling like cold sandpaper down his throat - as the sun slowly rose over what was once a massacre of grimm.

Dissolving grimm bodies were strewn everywhere and Jaune lay slumped against a slab of rock that was all that remained of a somewhat intact fountain that had long since gone dry. He had spent the the entire night fighting and couldn't bring himself to get up. It had taken too much energy and time to kill them all; Jaune knew he needed a few minutes to let his aura build back up and to catch his breath. He'd rather conserve what aura remained from the fight so he wouldn't be so utterly defenseless if life decided to be a colossal bitch right then and throw a few more grimm at him. If it were to occur, that would force him to draw shadows in and risk losing his mind in a rage-fueled haze if he took too much. He had a decently well-estimated idea of how much he could take, but he never wanted to rely on a risky power like that unless the world was collapsing around him. Soon the sounds of birds singing and the wind blowing intruded on the silence. The ruins of the town had been even more silent than the first few moments he had entered in the middle of the night.

Well, before the grimm decided to swarm him.

"Thank god for weekends..." He rasped scratchily, rubbing at his throat as if it would soothe how dry it felt, "I don't have any desire to do anything when I get home... screw classes."

He also promptly decided to never do something this stupid again. If he was going to be swamped with opponents to the point of exhaustion, a retreat was fine. He forced himself to focus and push past the exhaustion that was weighing down on him.

He looked at himself and sighed.

He removed what had become of his once-pristine armor, frowning at the various nicks, dents, and cracks that littered the bone chestplate before shaking his head and placing it at his side. He removed the rest of his armor with practiced efficiency and placed them out of his way. He shrugged off his torn hoodie and hissed at the friction on his cuts as the sweat-soaked fabric rubbed uncomfortably against his wounds.

He managed to unbuckle some of his pouches from his belt and lay them out with gentle motions. When he finally managed to find the correct pouch, he opened and took out a small blue dust crystal. He sat up and sat a bit straighter by leaning back fully against the rock. He placed a small cylinder from another pouch next to him and tapped it once on the top. With the sound of a mechashift, it expanded into a metal water cup. He grimaced at the pull on his already drained body but covered his right hand and arm with bone plating. He carefully scraped a finger against the crystal - not wanting it to erupt - and collecting the dust in the canteen until a thin shimmering layer of dust covered the bottom.

"That's the hard part over..." Jaune whispered softly.

He slipped the crystal back into its pouch and set it to the side. He then forced out a tiny spark of his aura and flicked a spark at the dust in the cup. With the sound of a trickling water running, the water dust activated and water filled up the cup. He gently reached for the cup and brought the water to his lips, taking slow gulps so he wouldn't choke by guzzling it all down at once. He groaned in satisfaction as the water quenched his thirst and washed down his dry throat. He took a moment to let the cool water help alleviate the sleepiness that weighed his eyelids down.

In all honesty, he could have probably waited to get home for some tap water, but the better nourished and rested the body, the faster the aura would refill.

He winced as a cut on his waist pulled and he looked down with a frown, scowling at the red beading up along his raw scabs. His aura did work wonders, but mid-combat recovery was impractically hard to achieve, let alone actually use. He opened another pack and began to pull out some medical gauze and tape, along with some antiseptic. He could've of bought some medicinal dust, but the truly effective dust was insanely pricey and usually not available without some waiting time. He wasn't hurting for money, but he wasn't going to blow lien on something that wasn't an emergency situation, especially when it could be taken care of of other - albeit slower and not as easy - more easily available methods.

He quickly began bandaging his cuts and bruises, ignoring the painful stinging of the antiseptic as he realized just how out in the open he was. Back in Kuroyuri, just after fighting the Nuckelavee, a dustplane had arrived and had taken them to Mistral. It wasn't unreasonable to assume that pilots might do once overs every now and then to see if there was a movement of grimm. A black cloud of dying and dissolving grimm could catch their attention and if that were the case, he had to get back. He grunted as he stood, nearly stumbling as he tentatively reached for his aura and sighing in relief as it had now gotten to an acceptable level. Gathering his armor and packs and buckling them back on, Jaune pulled at the shadows and let them empower himself just a bit more before they swallowed him whole.

* * *

The dusty concrete really wasn't the most pleasant cushion.

Then again, he really should've realized his control wasn't at it peak and that resulted in him being spat out of the shadows and onto the dirty floor of streets with a loud thud. He took a moment to just lay there and squeeze his eyes shut so hard he almost strained himself before pushing his battered body up and grunting at the twinges of pain that spiked. He staggered out of the convenient alley he looked into before his first excursion into the wilds and took a moment to catch his breath; giving his best try to push back the drag of his once-again-depleted aura before stumbling towards his hotel to rest. He'd completely forgotten like he'd been on the loosing side of a gang war and was wrapped like burn victim in some places of his body; some of the passing pedestrians were giving him a horrified looks as he walked by.

It wasn't his fault! Jaune usually had a large store of aura to close up his cuts and fade bruises so he usually looked a bit more rumpled than usual when he got back; not to mention he was tired and fighting to keep his eyes from shutting for a power nap.

Anyway, he'd walked into the lobby only to hear the receptionist gasp in shock, and immediately usher him to sit down while she called the hospital. It took a long while for him to calm the receptionist down and wave off his injuries as a result of a spar that went a bit too far (it was nothing short of a miracle that his overstressed mind could actually make up a somewhat coherent and not-entirely-unreasonable reason he was looking so battered) . When he finally did managed to get to his room, he shuffled over into his room, paused long enough to unbuckle his armor, and collapsed face-first into the bed.

* * *

Jaune woke with a groan as his consciousness was unwillingly dragged back into the world of the living. He rolled over onto his back and sat up, reaching up to scratch at his scalp when he felt some of his wounds ache. He looked at his body and sighed at the rags he was wearing before he began to strip. He tossed his ruined shirt onto his desk and shimmed out of his torn jeans; frowning at what was left of his clothing, which pretty much resembled rags. He sighed and walked over to his bathroom to get a better idea of how battered he looked. He stood in from of the mirror and unwrapped the layers of brown-splotched bandages before frowning at the few cuts that had opened over the course of his nap. He sighed in annoyance, rolling around in a bed was probably going to irritate his cuts and keep them raw. He was just about to use his aura when his stomach began to remind him of its existence.

Painfully.

He chuckled weakly at the muted growling of his organs and paused only to slide on some sweatpants. He walked into the kitchen and pulled out some milk and cereal, not wanting to cook something while still sore.

After a quick bowl of cereal and feeling a heck of a lot better now that he's full and rested, he let out a slow trickle of his aura and sighed as it soothed the various aches and closed his cuts. He stretched and grinned at the lack of pain before standing with his hands on his hips. He looked over at the time and sighed, a bit late but...

He really should take a shower, he smelled... less than stellar.

* * *

After he took his shower, he looked at the bloodied clothing and bandages before gathering them in a black trash bag. He took careful consideration in dumping the bloody rags and bandages in a garbage bag and throwing it out into the collection bin outside the general area of his building. If he had simply thrown it in the trash, someone who might be searching through the dumpster outside his apartment would find his bloodied garments and probably wonder what the hell happened to the guy who had been wearing them. Even if it was borderline paranoid, he'd rather be safe than sorry. He didn't want to set it on fire because it would probably be heard and the smell of smoke would linger on his person. For the bloody smell, he simply dumped a overbearing amount of air fresheners in the bag, spilling the liquid as much as he could.

He half-expected someone to jump out of the shadows and approach him as he left the dumpster. Because his luck was the type of luck that made thing inordinately difficult just to see if it could kick him while he was down. He went back to his room and sank heavily onto his chair. Nothing to do for now…

He picked up his scroll and began to dial his home number, he wanted to talk to his family.

* * *

Pyrrha hand's grabbed at the shaft of the arrow lodged in her chest, weakly pulling at it to try to pull it out.

She couldn't.

She would die.

Watching Cinder's cold anger.

Despairing over leaving what she finally longed for.

Abandoning Jaune...

'I'm so so sorry.' She murmured in her head.

* * *

Emerald eyes snapped open and Pyrrha sat bolt upright, breathing heavy as she frantically looked around the darkness of her room. When she realized where she was, she put her head in her hands, trying to relax.

"I hate those stupid dreams..." She groaned.

They had lessened steadily all throughout the time she had been alive, but nonetheless it still hurt to have them at all. She kicked of her covers and walked over to her window, sparing a long glance at the moon. Her eyes traced the contours of her room and she began to think of an option she could very well take.

'What if I stayed here and went to Haven?'

She didn't have to go to Beacon.

She could stay away from the whole mess Beacon and Vale would become.

She wouldn't even have to care.

But she thought of her friends, her second family.

Nora, crazy and loving.

Ren, calm and supportive.

Ruby, young and honest.

Yang, caring and strong.

Weiss, scolding and accepting.

Blake, quiet and hard-working.

And lastly but most definitely not least, dorky but brave Jaune.

Could she live with herself for abandoning them?

With a sigh she shook her head.

No.

She wouldn't run away.

Because she already cared. She already loved her friends and couldn't live with the knowledge that she abandoned them to die. If she didn't go, someone like Yang or maybe even Weiss would be chosen to become the new maiden and they would probably die, fading away to ash on the breeze because they never had the chance to be ready. With a sigh, she padded over to her bed and made to lie down when her eyes landed on her scroll. She shook her head before she turned over and muffled a tired sigh into her pillow.

There was no point in wondering if anyone she knew would pick up or remember.

* * *

There was a loud thud as Jaune hit the mat.

"Ugh," He groaned as he let himself lay on the floor for a moment rather than get up.

Oh what the hell, he might as well get up, it wasn't like he WASN'T learning.

He just really wished it didn't hurt so much as a price.

"'A' for effort, kid." Qrow said as he idly stretched his back, "But honestly you're not going to learn anything substantial if you're able to walk home after sparring with me."

To be honest, Jaune had spent the day when he came back lazing about and relaxing. When the next day came around, he figured he should probably not tempt fate by heading out and decided to phone Yang to see if she could teach him some hand-to-hand combat.

Unfortunately for him, Qrow happened to overhear and decided to chaperone.

Which really meant practice with Jaune in Yang's stead.

Which finally boiled down to Jaune getting his ass kicked by a hunter who he'd personally see punch a insane bastard so hard the man screamed into his hands as he cringed.

Life decided to lull him into a false sense of security before being a colossal bitch, go figure.

His father hadn't neglected to teach him, but most of his hand-to-hand combat was not quite as focused on in favor of practicing with his sword skills, aura, and (when he was alone) bone blades. His father had been an ardent proponent of the idea that if you were any good, being disarmed shouldn't happen. While Jaune was never truly without a weapon in any given moment, he wanted to see if he could build a CQC style that would mesh well with his elemental abilities.

Jaune pushed himself up to his feet, "Remind me why I am not able to practice with Yang again when being taught hand-to-hand. Isn't the point of this little session for me to at least have a decent basis to fight without my weapon."

Qrow smirked, "'Cause I said so."

Jaune groaned, "I really hope this isn't because you think I'm a perv or something, because Yang is only a friend."

Qrow laughed, "I trust Yang to be able to kick your teeth in if you tried anything. Anyway, back to your stance. We aren't done yet."

Jaune blew out a exhausted breath and got in a classic boxing stance. He hadn't wanted a really heavy workout since he had checked that of his weekend list, but he didn't want to come across as desperate to spar with Yang (Qrow was almost as protective of Yang as he was Ruby, so even giving him the idea that Jaune was into Yang would only end up with Jaune's decomposing corpse found in the sewer if found at all). He dashed at Qrow and launched a right at him. Qrow ducked away and retaliated with an uppercut at Jaune's left. Jaune sidestepped and cocked his head to avoid it before grabbing Qrow's wrist with his right hand, grabbing Qrow's collar with his left and lifting him. Qrow twisted in the air, landing on his feet and lunged forward, breaking Jaune's hold and forcing his hands into an awkward cross to tumble away. Jaune used the momentum to roll to his feet when he suddenly tipped back and slipped on the mat they were sparring on.

"Gah!" He grunted as he landed flat on his back and his head thunked against the wooden floor that the mat was placed on.

His luck was worsening the longer he kept on sparring with Qrow. It was small at first, tripping or stumbling slightly here and there on slippery parts of the mat, but soon it was things like that AND things like when a light shattered above him, startling him out of focus, and a dancing spark subsequently lighting the side of the mat he was located on fire.

'Fuck you Qrow. Fuck you and your stupid semblance.' He snarled in his head.

"Can I give up now?" He groaned.

Qrow laughed, "Yeah, I think you would want to go home without a concussion."

Jaune huffed and rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't know you read minds… useful semblance."

Qrow features seemed to stiffen before he sighed, "It would be wouldn't it… I could make a killing in poker or something…"

"If that's not your semblance," Jaune said as he sat up, "what is it?"

Qrow features stilled, "Nothing you have to worry about kid."

Jaune immediately decided it'd be better not to push. It was something he only admitted to RNJR after getting himself poisoned by Tyrian and causing a beam to nearly hit Ruby. If it had been anyone else…

"Alright." He replied, making his tone somewhat dubious, "I'm going to wash off, I smell and frankly I think a shower would do me some good."

* * *

"So…" Adam said looking dubiously at the newest leader in the council of The White Fang, "You want us to scout out potential recruits at schools?"

The current head of the Vale white fang division gave the young faunus a heavy glare, "Any complaints?"

"Am I allowed to give my opinion on the matter?" Adam said, grimacing.

The leader stared at him, "Your grievances - young man - better have actual value."

Adam bowed, "I don't believe any of the children there will be willing to help us, and furthermore, they need some decent training to be of any value. These children only just barely know the correct end of their weapon from the hilt."

The leader chuckled, "Ah… Don't be so certain. Many feel oppressed by the system that doesn't care for faunus. I am not asking you to approach anyone, Adam. Merely observe and see who would be an asset and if at all willing, who knows? You might even find some humans willing to help."

"Humans?" Adam gasped, "I won't le-"

His leader silenced him with sharp look and slammed his fist down on the chair with a loud crack, "I don't care for your prejudices here! We need as many members to rally around us as we can get! These non-violent fools in The White Fang's Vale Council outnumber us and if we really want to get any control of The White Fang, we need to gather more members! If more humans die for the cause, that would mean one less faunus life lost! You will do as I say or suffer for your disobedience!"

Adam scowled but bit down on his temper, he couldn't argue against that, "As you wish sir."

He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, passing by a young girl with cat ears and yellow eyes.

"So?" She asked.

"We'll go." Adam replied, "Look up schools that generate promising candidates Blake."


End file.
